Though I Walk Through The Valley
by kinoa
Summary: Booth is diagnosed with cancer. Brennan takes care of him and together they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
1. Chapter 1

3

Though I Walk Though the Valley…….

**Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,**

**I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;**

**I have reposted the 1****st**** and 2****nd**** chapters of my story because of certain information that was given to me by two of my readers. I am sure you will understand when I say that sometimes the world of the World Wide Web can be overflowing with information. The big problem is finding exactly what you need. Thanks to "Nyre The Black Rose", my sister in-law Dale and Anteater I have access to more information on Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Because of this new information I had to make corrections to some of my story so that it would be more accurate. Just as the television show "Bones" does, I also had to change, or come up with different ways of doing things in order to make the story more dramatic and shall we say 'rush it along'. I know this happens because one of the contributing writers of stories on FanFiction is an actual "Labsquint" and she has pointed out certain deviations from the truth. **

**In no way should the facts about Hodgkin's Lymphoma, that I present in my story, be accepted as the absolute truth. As much as possible I incorporated information from the following web sites. **

**National Cancer Institute=/cancertopics/pdq/supportivecare/nutrition/Patient **

**City of Hope= /patient_care/treatments/lymphoma/Pages/diagnosing**

**I have chosen not to offer too much information on Hodgkin's Lymphoma because some people that read this story will start to think that they have the same symptoms. While I was writing this story I was even starting to imagine symptoms. When I realized where my mind was going I looked at myself and thought "Geez, what an imagination, and here it is coming out of my own mind". **

**I hope you enjoy this story. Thank You. Kinoa**

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Chapter 1

Special Agent Seeley Booth woke up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. This was the second week in a row that this had happened. His sheets were wet so he got up and checked the thermostat on the wall. The setting was at 76 but the temperature reading was 59. He went back into his bedroom and checked his Big Bend wind up clock on the night stand. It said 4 o'clock. He sat on the side of the bed and thought about it for a minute. "I don't feel sick but I am hot." This was the first time that he had awakened and felt hot. Usually he just woke up when he felt the cold wet sheets against his skin. He went into his bathroom then to get his thermometer to take his temperature. Within 30 seconds the thermometer beeped. Booth took it out of his mouth and read it. He was surprised to see it at 102.5. "Maybe I'm just starting to get sick and that's why I don't feel too bad. Oh well, I guess I'll just take some Tylenol and try to get some more sleep before I have to get up." Since his sheets were wet he just pulled the blanket off of the bed and went into the living room and his couch. After taking a couple of Tylenol and a large glass of water he lay down on the couch and was asleep in just a few minutes.

The next morning he woke up to the sound of his alarm going off in his bedroom. He jumped up and ran for his bedroom to shut off the clock. He had to sit on the side of the bed for a few minutes so he could catch his breath. After awhile he got up and took a shower. Later on as he was shaving and as he ran his hand over his face and throat he felt a lump at the top of his throat. It didn't hurt so he dismissed it as nothing and went ahead and got dressed after brushing his teeth.

Booth headed for the Jeffersonian instead of FBI Headquarters. He had just finished a case with Bones and he was going to work with her to write up the case. As he walked into the lab area he saw Bones on the platform checking over some bones on the table. "Hey Bones, I have some fancy coffee for us and some breakfast. I'll be waiting for you in your office, chop chop."

Dr. Brennan looked at Angela. "What does he mean by chop chop?"

"He means hurry up with what you're doing and get in there with him." Angela told her with a smile. Whenever Booth used slang Dr. Temperance Brennan usually had to ask Booth what he meant or turn to someone like Angela.

Dr. Brennan removed her gloves and said "If that's what he wanted then why didn't he just say come into your office now?" She hadn't really said it to anyone in particular. Angela just smiled at her as she watched her friend go into her office.

"Why are you in such a hurry Booth? It will only take us an hour or so." Dr. Brennan said to her partner.

"I have to get this report into Cullen before he leaves for the day and he is leaving at 1o'clock. Here's your coffee just the way you like it and a bagel with regular cream cheese. I have the same thing except I have strawberry cream cheese." Cream cheese on her bagel was one of the few non vegetarian items that Bones allowed herself. Booth referred to it as one of her small sins.

While they had their breakfast they started working on the report and were done after almost two hours. Booth sat back against the couch and closed his eyes for a few minutes. Bones looked at him. She noticed that he was perspiring even though the room was cool. She reached up and felt his forehead. He felt hot. "Booth, wake up."

"I'm awake, I was just resting my eyes for a second." Booth said as he sat up straight again.

"Booth you have a fever. You need to go home and get into bed. I'll take the report into Cullen." Dr. Brennan said as she gathered all of the report together and retrieved her purse. She went to the couch and had to wake him up again. "Booth, wake up."

"I don't know why but I feel so tired. I woke up early in the morning and my sheets were soaked from my sweat. I felt okay when I woke up again though. Now though I'm wiped out."

Brennan went to find Cam. She was an MD as well as a ME. She found her at her desk doing some paperwork. "Cam, can you come to my office for a minute?"

"Sure what's up?" Cam asked Brennan as she got up and followed her to her office.

"Booth is very sick. He's perspiring heavily and he seems to have a high fever." They entered Brennan's office and found Booth asleep again. Cam felt his forehead and could easily tell that he had a high fever. His shirt was soaked with his sweat.

"I have a thermometer in my desk. I'll be right back." Cam said as she hurried back to her office. As promised she returned in seconds. "Booth, wake up." She said as she gently shook his arm.

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Booth said as he sat up. Before he knew what was happening Cam shoved the thermometer in his mouth. She took his pulse while waiting for the thermometer to beep. By the time she was done taking his pulse the thermometer beeped. She took it from his mouth and checked the display. It read 102. She didn't say anything she just stood and grabbed a chair.

"Sit over here Booth so I can check you for something." Cam said as she grabbed his arm and helped him to get up and sit in the chair. As soon as he sat down she put her hands under his jaw and checked for swollen glands. She found what she thought would be there. "Booth, take off your shirt so I can check the glands under your arms." He did as she said. Cam checked the glands under both of his arms and found only a slight swelling under his left arm. Brennan had grabbed a fresh shirt for him that she kept in her office for him. He had brought extra clothes over when they had come back from a particularly nasty crime scene one time.

"You need to call your personal physician Booth and go in to see him as soon as possible, like today." Cam said as Brennan helped him put on his clean shirt.

"Why?" Brennan asked. "Is it serious?"

"I can't make a diagnosis because he needs to go through some tests. It's never good though when your glands are swollen." Booth fished through his wallet and pulled out a card for his personal doctor. Cam took it from him without asking for permission and went to her office to call his doctor. After 30 minutes she came back in.

"Okay Booth, we're taking you to the hospital. Dr. Trent said that he would meet us there." Cam said as she helped Booth up. Dr. Brennan got on the other side and they walked him outside to his SUV. Angela wasn't in the lab but Hodgins was and he followed them outside.

"What's wrong?" Hodgins asked as they got Booth in the SUV while Brennan got in the driver's seat. Cam turned to Hodgins.

"We're taking Booth to the hospital for some tests. He's very sick. This is going to take awhile so I'll be back as soon as I can." She turned than and got into the back seat and Brennan took off leaving a bewildered Hodgins standing in the parking lot. After he got over the shock of Cam's news he went running back into the lab and looked for Angela.

During the drive to the hospital Cam kept Booth awake by asking him questions. Brennan was surprised when she asked Booth if this had been going on for awhile. "Yes, the night sweats started a little over a week ago. This morning is the first time that it woke me up though. I guess it was because I was running a fever." When they arrived Brennan drove up to the emergency entrance. Cam got out and pulled over a wheelchair. She didn't want to take any chances with him falling. Booth was so out of it that he didn't even argue with her. She took him into the emergency room while Brennan parked the SUV. Cam gave the receptionist all of the information that she needed and told her that his personnel doctor was supposed to meet them here. They didn't have too many people in the waiting room so they took Booth to the back right away. Brennan had come in just as they were going to the back. She made it through the double doors just in time to join them. A few seconds later and the doors would have locked and she would have had to wait outside.

When Dr. Trent joined them they already had Booth on the hospital bed and the nurse had taken all of his vitals. Dr. Trent was around 5'6", his face was weathered looking as though he spent a lot of time outdoors. Brennan noticed right away that he walked with a slight limp.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Trent. Which one of you is Dr. Saroyan?" Cam stood up and shook Dr. Trent's hand.

"Hello Dr. Trent I am Dr. Camille Saroyan and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. Dr. Brennan is Booths partner and we work at the Jeffersonian. Can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Dr. Trent followed Cam over to the Nurses station where they couldn't be heard.

Fifteen minutes later Dr. Trent and Cam came back over to Booth and Brennan. "Booth I am going to go back to the lab, but I'm going to leave Brennan okay. Dr. Trent will take care of you now. Booth I am going to have to call Cullen about your being sick so that he can funnel any cases to someone else for awhile, alright?"

"Okay, thanks Cam." Booth answered sleepily.

Brennan got up and followed Cam out of the cubicle. "What do you think is wrong with him Cam?" She looked worried and near tears.

"I can't say Dr. Brennan; we'll have to wait until they get through with all of the tests to be sure. I need the keys to Booth's SUV. I'll be back in three hours okay?" Brennan didn't like her answer but she knew that logically it would be best to wait for the tests to be completed before making a diagnosis.

Dr. Trent met her outside of the cubicle. "We're going to be taking Booth up to the 2nd floor for testing. It might take three to four hours. If you want you can either go home or wait in the 2nd floor waiting room."

"I'll go to the waiting room." Brennan said. She heard Booth calling her so she went over to the cubicle where they had him in a wheel chair. "Take my gun and cell phone Bones. I don't think they'll like having them up there." He gave her a weak smile.

Brennan took his hand in hers and put her head by his ear. "Whatever this is Booth we'll handle it together just like we do in the field." To his surprise she kissed him on the lips and then his cheek then stood up and took his gun, holster and cell phone and backed up and out of the cubicle. Dr. Trent joined them while Brennan went out to the hallway and asked directions to the elevators and the 2nd floor waiting room.

Three hours later, as promised, Cam came in to join her. "Has Dr. Trent come out to tell you anything yet?" Cam asked Brennan as she sat down with two coffees she had brought along with some sandwiches, a hamburger for herself and a garden burger for Brennan. Brennan didn't touch hers though she said that she was too worried about Booth to feel like eating. Cam understood so she didn't push it.

Another 4 hours later a nurse came over to Brennan. "Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan and Cam both stood up. "I'm Dr. Brennan."

"Would you follow me and I'll take you to see Mr. Booth and Dr. Trent." Cam sat back down again while Brennan went with the nurse. The nurse took Brennan to Dr. Trent's office where she saw Booth sitting in front of Dr. Trent and another man in a white coat by Dr. Trent's desk.

Booth stood up and took Brennan's hand in his and she sat down next to him. Dr. Trent noticed how they continued to hold hands. He thought to himself 'This woman is more than just a partner'.

"Okay Booth here is what we now know that you have. The lab wasn't doing too much so I was able to get them to put a rush on everything. We know for sure that you have Hodgkin Lymphoma, which is a type of cancer. This is Dr. Clark who is an Oncologist." Dr. Clark stood up and shook Booth and Brennan's hand. He was as tall and broad shouldered as Booth, unlike Booth though he had a runner's build. When he sat back down Dr. Trent continued. "You're lucky Booth that Dr. Brennan and Dr. Saroyan work with you. Left on your own I have no doubt that you would have waited a lot longer to come to me, as it is we've caught it at an early stage and as soon as we have the results of the biopsy well know better as to how far it has progressed. Dr. Saroyan and I talked about it when you first came in and I agree with her that it's only located in the area between the base of your neck and the upper part. To make sure though we took that one biopsy from the node under your arm that was a little swollen. I am going to put you under Dr. Clarks care. I've been talking to him and we both went over your tests so he is already familiar with your case. If you agree we'll start the chemotherapy on Friday which is the earliest appointment we could get you. I'm sure you've heard of how ruff chemotherapy is on a person. So prepare yourself for difficult times for the next 6 to 9 months. Now I don't know what kind of relationship you and Dr. Brennan are in but I would advise you to make a deposit at a sperm bank before you start treatment. Although drugs now days are less likely to cause infertility you never know how your treatment may progress so if you want any more children make that deposit to be on the safe side." For the next hour Dr. Trent and Clark gave Booth and Brennan all of the information they would need to get through the chemotherapy.

"Now that you have all of the information I can give you do you want to go through with the treatment? I just want to mention that the longer you wait the more likely the cancer will spread." Dr. Trent said. He had been Booths doctor for as long as he had been in DC so he knew him very well.

"What is the survival rate with the type of treatment you are proposing?" Brennan asked.

"The chances are very good for this type of cancer. Ninety eight percent of all patients come out of the treatment with full recovery and can go back to a normal life again. For you Mr. Booth it will be a little easier since you are in top physical shape now. With hard work on your part I have no doubt that you'll be back at work within less than a year, sooner if you're a good boy and follow all of your Doctor's orders." Dr. Clark said.

Booth looked at Brennan. She nodded her head and he turned to the two doctors and said "What papers do I have to sign?" Dr. Trent picked up his phone and asked his secretary to bring in all of the forms that Booth needed to sign.

"Now besides the appointment for next Friday my secretary will make an appointment for you with a dietitian. I also remember you told me once that the FBI had you going to a Psychologist for certain problems, that I don't think exist anymore, I will need his name and phone number so I can talk to him." Booth started to protest.

"Don't argue with us on this Mr. Booth. There are going to be hard days ahead of you and some patients go into a deep depression." Dr. Clark told him. Then he looked at the two people in front of him holding hands. "I presume that Dr. Brennan will be taking care of you?"

"Yes." Brennan said before Booth could say anything to the contrary.

"Helping someone go thru what you are going to go thru can be almost as hard on the caretaker as it is on the patient. So she may need someone to talk to also."

TBC……………………..


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Within an hour after leaving Dr. Trent and Clark, Booth had received a schedule of all of his appointments for the coming week. Brennan and Booth went to the waiting room to see if Cam was still there. Not only Cam but Hodgins and Angela were there also. They stood up as the partners entered the waiting room and waited for Booth to say something.

He was taking too long to speak as far as Angela was concerned. "Well what was the verdict?"

Booth just looked at each of them. These were the people that worked with them to bring justice to victims. To put away the bad guys and without them he would not have such a high rate of convictions.

"I have Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer. They have me set up to start chemotherapy this coming Friday. My doctor, Dr. Trent, said it was a good thing that I work with Cam and Bones because they made me come in and I probably wouldn't have done it on my own until it was more advanced. Since I did come in he said they got it in its early stage. They have to wait to see the results of a couple of biopsies that they did but they feel good about the outcome."

Cam had a smile on her face that everyone was shocked at. When she saw the shocked looks on their faces she explained herself. "I'm smiling because of all the cancers that you could have gotten, this is the best one to have because it has a high rate of recovery. The treatments to get rid of it are brutal but the chances that you will return to work with us is very good. I take it that you will be taking care of him Dr. Brennan?"

"Yes I will. I am also letting you know that I will be taking a sabbatical until he is fully recovered. Dr. Trent said that it would take 6 to 9 months for the treatment and then another 1 to 2 months or so for him to recover from the treatments and return to his former self." Booth wrapped his arms around her and gave her a long kiss and he didn't care that they had people watching. He let go of her and pulled out his cell phone.

"This is Special Agent Seeley Booth, has Cullen left for the day?" There was a brief pause then he said "Okay thanks." Booth looked at Bones. "I have to go and talk to Cullen. Do you want to go with me?"

"Yes." Brennan said simply. She knew that this would be hard on him and he would need her support.

They all walked out to their vehicles. Hodgins and Angela followed Booth and Brennan over to his SUV. Booth and Brennan turned to them before getting in. "I just want to let you know Booth that if there is anything that I can possibly do for you just tell Dr. Brennan to call Angela or me." Booth shook Hodgins hand and they all got into their own vehicles and left.

Booth pulled his cell phone out and called Cullen at his private residence. "Hi this is Special Agent Seeley Booth, may I speak to Director Cullen please." A few moments passed while he waited for Cullen to pick up the phone. "Yes sir do you mind if I come over and speak to you? I have a very important situation to talk to you about. ……………..Yes sir it's about the call that Dr. Saroyan made to you this morning………….Thank you sir I'll be there in about 20 minutes." He hung up the phone and they drove the rest of the way in silence. Brennan knew that he had a lot of information to digest.

Twenty minutes later, as promised, they arrived at Cullen's home. Booth leaned forward against the steering wheel and thought about what he was going to say to his Boss. Without saying anything he got out of the vehicle and waited for Bones to join him. "Stay with me Bones."

"Always." She reached up and gave him a kiss on his cheek. As they held hands they looked around them and each took a deep breath, taking in the night air. It was fall now and although not cold there was a definite nip in the air. Winter was just around the corner. Brennan looked at Booth. She could see the perspiration starting to form on his face and she could feel his temperature going up slightly through his hand. He had told her that Dr. Trent had given him something for his fever but it was clear that the medication was wearing off now. "Let's go Booth and get this part over with."

Hand in hand they walked up to the door and he rang the bell. Within a minute the door opened and Mrs. Cullen opened the door. "Come in Seeley. David told me you were coming." Diane Cullen was shorter than her husband by about seven inches. Her hair, at one time was a soft brown. Now it was peppered with gray and she kept it short. Cullen had told him that when he first met her she had long hair that went down to her waist. She had been able to keep her figure through the years and the stress of losing her only child to cancer had left lines at her eyes.

"Good evening Mrs. Cullen. I'm sorry to disturb you at home and at such a late hour but my news couldn't wait until tomorrow." Booth said as he and Bones walked in.

"That's quiet alright Seeley. How are you doing Dr. Brennan?" Diane Cullen asked as she took their coats from them.

"I'm doing okay, thank you for asking." Brennan said. Diane noticed how they didn't let each other's hand go for even a second except to remove their coats.

Director Cullen came in from the kitchen with a tray of coffee, cream, sugar and cups and placed it on the dining room table. He looked at Booth and saw the perspiration on his face. The fact that Booth and Dr. Brennan were holding hands didn't escape his notice either.

Mrs. Cullen stood up and asked if anyone wanted coffee. Bones asked for some but Booth declined and instead asked for something cold to drink. Cullen got up and was back in a few minutes with a tall glass of iced tea. He watched as Booth took out a container of pills and downed two of them with all of his tea.

"Are you ready to tell me what's going on now Booth?" Cullen asked as he sipped at his own cup of coffee.

Booth hesitated for a moment then sat back in his chair. "I have been having night sweats for the past 2 weeks and early this morning I woke up with my sheets all soaked with my sweat and a temperature of 102.5. Other than the temperature thing I felt okay so I just took 2 Tylenol and went back to sleep on my couch. When my alarm went off I felt okay so I headed out to the Jeffersonian so that Dr. Brennan and I could write up our final report for the Johnson case that we just closed. By the time we were done I felt wiped out. Women being what they are Bones started mothering me and called Dr. Saroyan in also. Besides being an M.E. she is also an M.D. She checked me out and they told me I was going to the hospital. To make a long story short Dr. Saroyan called my personal physician and he met us there. I've been at the hospital all day having all kinds of tests run." Booth felt wiped out so he stopped talking for a few minutes. Brennan decided to take over for him so he could have a few minutes to rest.

"Dr. Trent, Booths personal physician, told him that he has Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer. He had already contacted Dr. Clark, an Oncologist. Dr. Clark was in the office with us when they gave us the news. They said that Hodgkins Lymphoma has an 80 to 98% survival rate, depending on the exact type. He told Booth that he has an excellent chance of having a total remission since he came in so soon and they caught it in what they believe is its earliest stage. He has Booth scheduled to start Chemotherapy on Friday morning at 8 AM. He said it would take 6 to 9 months for the chemotherapy." Brennan's eyes were tearing as she told them about Booths condition and the prognosis.

Cullen and his wife were quiet for awhile after Brennan got through.

Cullen sat forward than and said "It seems that we are having an epidemic of cancer at the FBI. Mike Wilson told me last week that he was just diagnosed with cancer also except he already knows that he won't survive his. They gave him 3 to 6 months to live. Count yourself lucky Booth that you have those two women looking out for you. I take it that Dr. Brennan will be taking care of you?"

"Yes I will. I've already informed Dr. Saroyan that I will be taking a sabbatical so that I can take care of him." Brennan said before Booth could say anything.

Cullen picked up his wife's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "As you know my wife and I have had plenty of experience in taking care of a person going through chemotherapy. We know what to expect and how to handle the problems that crop up." Cullen pulled out a business card with his phone number at the FBI and he wrote his cell phone and home phone on the back and gave it to Brennan. "I want you to call me at any time, day or night, if you need help with him. Like I said we've had plenty of experience. I'm going to put you on medical leave Booth. The way it works is that HR will have you on vacation then sick leave then medical leave. While you're on medical leave they have a whole new other schedule. But I know that you'll be getting your full pay up to a certain point in your medical leave, than it reduces to half I think after so many weeks. During all of this, you will be fully covered by your medical insurance."

The drug Booth had taken was starting to take effect now. He sat up straight in his chair. "Could I ask you ladies to leave us for a few minutes?" Mrs. Cullen got up and reached for Dr. Brennan.

"This usually means that they want to talk man to man." Mrs. Cullen whispered rather loudly. Booth waited for the women to leave the area before he said anything else.

"Can you tell me if there are any rules that the FBI has about having a personal relationship with a partner that is under contract with the Bureau?" Booth asked Cullen as he sat closer to him.

Cullen smiled as he looked at Booth. "So you're finally going to make your move. Everybody has been wondering if you two were more than just partners. Well to answer your question the Bureau has rules but people break them all of the time Booth. Usually the relationship is kept quiet and only a few close friends know about it. Diane worked with the Bureau when we first met. She was a junior agent and I was her superior. We just carried on as normal at work and kept our private lives private, when we got married, she quite. For you and Dr. Brennan though you don't have to worry because she does work under contract and isn't governed by the same rules as you are." Cullen looked closely at Booth and smiled then patted him on his leg. "Be good to her Booth, she's a keeper. I know that I act tough with her at the office but I like Dr. Brennan. Diane and I can't thank her enough for what she did for Amy during her last days." He started to have tears in his eyes as he remembered his daughter that died of bone cancer.

Brennan came back into the dining room in the next minute and said "Are you two done with your man talk, as Diane calls it, because I think it's time to get Booth home."

"Yes Dr. Brennan I believe we are done." Cullen said as he stood up. With a little difficulty Booth stood up and saluted Brennan.

"At ease soldier." Brennan said as she put her hand in his and pulled him to the front door.

Cullen walked them out to Booths SUV to make sure that he got in okay. As Brennan got into the driver's side Cullen said "Don't forget Dr. Brennan, call me day or night if you need help or just someone to talk to. I know what both of you will be going through and it's no picnic." Booth put his window down and put his hand out to Cullen. "Thank you sir, for everything." They shook hands then Booth closed the window and Brennan drove off.

TBC……………..


	3. Chapter 3

7

Chapter 3

Booth just barely made it up the stairs. His apartment building didn't have an elevator and they had no choice but to take them slowly. By the time he got to his front door he was out of breath and Brennan had to open the door. Instead of going right to bed Booth insisted on sitting down at the couch for awhile. "Let me rest for awhile okay? Then I promise that I'll go in and take a shower and go right to bed after I change the sheets."

"I'll take care of the sheets; you just go and take a shower when you think you're ready, okay?" Brennan said as she looked at him straight in the eyes.

"Is that going to be the Bones look when you're serious and won't take any mischief from me?" Booth asked as he gave her a big smile. He couldn't help himself as he looked into her eyes. He grabbed her and pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss that was long and passionate. She responded by putting her arms around his neck. As they pulled apart he continued to look at her. He ran his fingers down the side of her face and then lightly ran a finger over her lips.

"I wish I could do more Bones but I am too tired for any activities." Booth said as he kissed her lips ever so lightly again. "I wish I had told you that I loved you a long time ago. I've wasted so much time." He pulled her into his arms again and just held her.

"It's partly my fault also Booth. I could have told you that I loved you a long time ago. My head was so tied up with all of my book learning about the chemical makeup of what we call love. I had to know you for these past 4 years so that you could teach me about where our feelings really come from. I've come to realize that there must be love first before the chemical flow starts. Now I can admit to the origination of those feelings."

As they pulled apart he gazed into her bluish gray eyes again and she could feel his muscles tighten under his shirt. "What's the matter?"

"I saw that familiar glint in your eyes." He pushed her off of his lap. "You always have a playful glint in your eyes whenever you're going to do or say something playful."

Brennan turned beet red and looked down at the couch as she ran her hand over it repeatedly. "I was just thinking that I could go with you into the Sperm Bank and help you place your deposit." Brennan said with a smile. Her eyes were literally sparkling now.

"It will be my pleasure, and I do mean 'my' pleasure, to have you accompany me." Booth said with a sparkle in his own eye.

"I want you to go and take a shower now and I'll change the sheets then I'll make something light for us to eat." Brennan said as she got up and pulled him up and followed him into his bedroom.

While Booth went into the bathroom to take a shower Brennan pulled the sheets off of the bed and pulled clean sheets out of the linen closet and proceeded to make the bed. Before putting the cover sheet on she went to the linen closet again and looked for a beach towel. Knowing Booth as she did all she had to do was look for something outlandishly colorful. She found it on the bottom shelf and pulled it out and looked at it. A picture of Superman was printed on the front. She smiled and said "Of course, what else would he have." When she heard the shower turn off she quickly placed the towel on one side of the bed and finished making the bed then went into the kitchen to make a couple of sandwiches.

When she came back in the room she found Booth sitting up in bed and watching the late night news. He was leaning his head against the headboard and was half asleep already. "Wake up Booth." She said softly as she sat the tray over his lap. Booth sat up straight and grabbed the glass of iced tea she had made for him. "Here is two Tylenol for your fever. You don't feel too hot so these should take care of it for the next few hours." Brennan said as she sat on the other side of the bed and pulled over her own sandwich. They ate their sandwiches in silence for awhile. Neither one of them had eaten anything since the morning so they were both hungry. When Booth saw that they were both done he picked up the tray and put it on the floor.

Brennan started to get up when Booth said "Leave it, I know that you must be just as tired as I am. Why don't you go take a shower and come and get in bed with me."

"Booth, I don't have anything here." Brennan said as she started to get up.

"In the dresser on the bottom drawer you'll find some pajamas. I never use the tops so there are plenty of tops to choose from or you can use one of my t-shirts. Tomorrow before we go to the sperm bank we can go to your apartment and you can pick up some things and change into some clean clothes." Booth said as he looked at her with a glint of mischief in his own eyes.

Brennan thought about it for a minute. She leaned against the bathroom door and tapped her lips with her finger as she pondered what to do. She was tired, she thought, and she was going to be staying with him for the next 6 to 9 months. She made her decision and just smiled at him and opened the bottom drawer of his dresser and pulled out a pajama top and went into the bathroom.

Booth watched her go into the bathroom and close the door. "Man oh man! Why do I have to be sick now? But then if I wasn't sick we probably wouldn't have told each other how we felt. Lord, is this a joke or something?" He just gave a heavy sigh and scooted down the bed so that he could lie down. Within minutes he was asleep.

Brennan came out of the bathroom wearing his pajama top and a towel around her head. She went into the living room and picked up her purse and grabbed her brush then went back into the bedroom. The television was still on so she sat on the end of the bed and turned it to the late night news. She brushed her hair until it was dry then hung the towel up again and turned the television off and crawled into bed beside Booth. She felt his chest and he felt cool to the touch and dry so she turned the light off on the night stand and cuddled up to him while putting her head on his chest and her arm around him. She went to sleep then, but not before she felt him put his arm around her and pull her closer to him.

At 3 in the morning Brennan woke up when she felt the heat radiating from Booth's body. She turned the light on and looked at him. He was literally dripping sweat onto the towel she had put on top of the bottom sheet. She got up and went to the bathroom to get some more Tylenol for him. There was still some tea left in his glass from supper so she grabbed it and shook his shoulder. "Wake up Booth your temperature is up again." He woke up and sat up. He took the two Tylenol from her without question, swallowed them, and washed them down with the tea.

"Thanks." He lay back down again and was asleep within seconds again. Brennan went to the bathroom and soaked a wash cloth with cold water and wiped his face and chest of all of the sweat. She didn't go back to bed until she felt his body start to cool down again.

The next morning they had an 8 o'clock appointment at the sperm bank. Booth wanted to take care of his deposit while he was still feeling good from his previous night's sleep. Brennan was surprised when he got into the passenger side of the SUV and gave her the keys. It was Tuesday and they were hitting the morning traffic while heading out to the bank so it took them 45 minutes.

Brennan could tell that Booth wasn't looking forward to this. Even though she was going to be helping him make his deposit she could still see that he was nervous. She took his hand and she felt him immediately relax.

It took 30 minutes for Booth to fill out the papers and pay for the storage of his sperm. When the nurse called him to come to the back he took Brennan's hand in his and pulled her with him.

"Hi, I'm Mrs. Chapel and I'll be taking care of you for now. Since you have your girl friend with you would you like to have a room with a bed?" Booth turned red. He turned to Brennan than for the answer to the nurse's question.

"Chairs will be fine." Brennan said. The nurse took them down a hallway to the 5th door and walked in. When Brennan and Booth walked in she gave them instructions as to what they had available in the room.

"As you can see we have a TV and DVDs for you to watch if you need any help. The men are usually very nervous and need some encouragement to get things going. Here is the jar that you are to put the specimen in. When you're done put it here in this small door and turn the shelf around. A bell will ring on the outside and I'll pick it up right away to test it and start the procedure to put it in storage. You can leave then anytime you're ready." Brennan said thank you and the nurse left.

Booth just looked at Brennan and said "Please Bones, no clinical analogy of my situation."

Brennan smiled and pushed Booth down in the chair. "Just sit there and I'll take care of everything Special Agent Seeley Booth." She said it in such a sexy seductive way that he couldn't help it when his heart started pounding in his chest. He watched her as she selected one of the porno flicks and slipped it into the DVD player and turned on the TV. As the woman in the movie started to undress he watched Brennan do the same thing. When the woman kissed the man Brennan kissed Booth. Booth could already feel the needed erection. He was responding to the movie and Brennan's duplicate acting so well that they were done in just 20 minutes. After Booth filled the jar Brennan put it into the little door and turned it around as instructed.

When she turned back to Booth he was bending over and trying to get his breathing under control again. By the time Brennan was through dressing again and washing up he was able to put everything back in its place and stood up. He wrapped his arms around her and said "I can see that you're going to be just as good a sex partner as you are a work partner."

"That's only a small sample of what I can do Special Agent Seeley Booth." He gave her a kiss and then they walked out and back to the SUV.

Booth was still feeling okay so they went to the diner for brunch. As they sat there eating Hodgins and Angela came in. Angela spotted Booth and Brennan right away.

"Hi Sweetie, how are you two doing?" Angela asked as she gave Brennan a hug when she stood up to greet her friend. She took the empty seat next to Booth while Hodgins sat next to Brennan.

"This morning we went to the sperm bank so Booth could make a deposit. Dr. Trent advised him that some of the chemotherapy drugs can cause infertility but they were going to try to avoid them since they now have a lot of new drugs that they can use." Brennan said with her usual straight face. This, to her, was all clinical and had no thought at all as to whether this was personnel to Booth or not.

Booth looked disgustedly at Brennan. "Do you have to tell everyone what is happening to me?"

"Booth, you shouldn't be ashamed of what you did. You just performed a biological function to assure the continuation of your family line and it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Besides, it was fun." Brennan said with a wicked grin as she looked at Angela over the top of her coffee cup. Booth just ran his hand over his face.

Hodgins was having a good laugh at Booths expense. He stopped laughing though when he saw the look on Angela's face. Now it was Booths turn to laugh.

"Have you thought of doing the same thing Jack? You know with you being the last in your family line you should try to make sure that there will be another Hodgins." Angela told him.

"Yeah Hodgins, you don't want to put the Cantilever group into a downward spiral do you? What if something should happen to you and you get killed or your boys stop producing their little soldiers. That would be the end of the Hodgins line." Booth said teasingly. Payback is hell as the saying goes.

"Shut up Booth." Hodgins told him as he turned three shades of red and put his head down. When he looked up again he looked straight at Angela. "I talked to Trevor, the family lawyer, about it sometime after my parents died. He advised against it. He said that if anyone got their hands on it they could use it and then sue me for support and lay claim to the family fortune. So Ms. Montenegro it's up to us to make sure that my family line continues by producing a son or sons the old tried and true method."

"Hey! You know what Sweetie we could track our period and see when we are ovulating at the same time then we could be pregnant together and our kids could grow up together. All we need to do is make sure that Hodgins and Booth do their part at the same time. After all it only takes them a few minutes or so." Angela told Brennan.

At the same time Booth and Hodgins said "Oh my God, stop that."

Brennan and Angela cracked up. "I don't understand why men get embarrassed when women start talking about procreation. It's a simple biological function that must be performed to ensure the continuation of our species and two intelligent women such as Angela and I can control when we conceive." Brennan said. When she looked at Booth she noticed that he was starting to perspire even though it was cool in the Diner. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small bottle of Tylenol and gave him two.

"Thanks, I am starting to feel hot." Booth quickly drank it down. He got the waitresses attention and asked for another large glass of ice tea.

"How have things been going otherwise Booth?" Hodgins asked after Booth had taken the pills.

"Not too bad although I am starting to get apprehensive about Friday. Bones put a beach towel over the bottom sheet on my bed so that I wouldn't get it all wet from sweating last night. She woke me up when I started feeling hot again and gave me some more pills so I slept better last night than I have in over a week." Booth reached over the table for Brennan's hand and kissed it. "I thank God that He sent her to me." Brennan smiled back at him.

"Just as we do when we are working on a case Booth, we'll get through this together." The waitress brought Booths large ice tea. He took a long drink then ran the glass over his forehead. After a moment Brennan started to get her purse and said "I think it's time for us to go back to your apartment so you can rest. By the way I think that it would be best if we moved your things to my apartment on Thursday. It has an elevator and from what Diane told me you'll be too weak to be walking up those flights of stairs leading to your apartment."

"Let me give you some advice that my father gave me Booth. Just say 'Yes dear' and things will be a lot easier on you." Hodgins told Booth as they all got up so both Booth and Brennan could leave.

"That's good advice." He turned to Brennan and said "Yes dear". Brennan swatted his behind as he walked in front of her to pay the bill at the cash register.

When they got into the SUV Booth said "If I am going to be at your apartment I will need a TV. I'll need one in the bedroom and one in the living room; a DVD player for movies also."

Brennan looked at him and said "Yes dear."

"That's a good girl." Booth said as he raised his hand up to protect his head in case she hit him. She started to raise her hand to hit him but just laughed at him instead.

"When I go to the dietician tomorrow I'll stop and order them for delivery on Thursday."

When they arrived at his apartment Booth was ready for a nap. He went directly to his bedroom and took off his shoes, suit and shirt and lay down after going to the bathroom. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Brennan came in to check on him after awhile. She closed the drapes and pulled the blanket over his arm. She checked his temperature by putting her hand over his forehead. It was warmer than it should be but not hot.

The next day, since Brennan was going to be taking care of Booth, she went to the dietician by herself. She told him that it wasn't necessary for him to go and he was to just rest. Fortunately he just said the prescribed words "Yes dear".

Brennan went to the local Circuit City and purchased the biggest flat screen they had for the living room and a smaller one for the bedroom. She paid an extra delivery fee for them to deliver and set them up by Thursday. She also called up the local Cable Company and told them she wanted the service to be started on Thursday also. Her apartment was already wired for Cable, she just didn't use it.

When Brennan came back she checked on Booth. She found him standing outside on her balcony and watching the city that he helped to protect.

He wasn't wearing a jacket so Brennan grabbed it from the hall closet and went outside. She handed him the jacket and helped him put it on. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I was just watching the traffic and thinking that I won't have to deal with it for the next several months or so. By the way, Dr. Clark asked us to come to his office at 6 this evening. He said he has more information on the type of Cancer I have and he wants to ask me something about my treatment."

"It looks like I came back just in time then. We better go back in now. You're starting to perspire again. I think we have enough time for you to take some more Tylenol and get some rest before we have to leave." Booth just looked at her with a smile.

"Yes Dear." Booth followed her in and removed his jacket while Brennan got a couple of Tylenol and a glass of water for him. Brennan noticed how it was taking him longer to do anything. She knew that it was because of the Cancer that he always seemed to be tired.

"Take these and then lay down while I put some music on. If you fall asleep I'll wake you up in time to get ready to go."

Once again Booth did exactly as she told him then said "Yes Dear."

At 5 PM Brennan woke Booth up. "Booth get up, we have to get ready to go see Dr. Clark."

Booth sat up and rubbed his eyes. "I am sleeping so much I think that one of these days I am going to open my eyes and find myself with a long white beard and grass and weeds growing all over me with a sign next to me that says 'Rip Van Winkle, do not disturb'."

"Don't worry Booth I'll wake you up." Brennan smiled at him and pulled him up from the couch.

By 5:50 they were at Dr. Clark's office. There wasn't anyone else in the office and most of the office staff had left for the night. It was plain to see that they were going to be the last patients to see him.

They didn't have long to wait and they were surprised when Dr. Clark came out to get them. "Mr. Booth and Dr. Brennan come back to my office so we can talk." They both got up and followed him to his office. When they entered and sat down Dr. Clark took his seat at his desk and opened what appeared to be Booth's medical records.

"Well Mr. Booth I have the results of some more tests that we took on Monday along with the results of the biopsies. The rest of the tests have enabled us to further peg down exactly what kind of Hodgkin's Lymphoma you have. You have what's called Adult Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Stage 1B. The biopsies showed that the cancer is localized in the lymph nodes in your neck and at the base of your throat." Dr. Clark leaned forward a little. "We didn't find it anywhere else. As you know we took a biopsy of the lymph node that was a little swollen under your arm and it was free of the cancer cells. Now I've been talking to Dr. Trent and I suggested a different option for your treatment that will be faster than what it usually takes for you to go through the chemotherapy for this type of cancer. Since he knows you better than I do he has advised me to offer it to you. The normal length of time for the chemo treatment can be as long as 6 to 8 months. That is if we give you the time to rest and give your body time to build itself back up again. As we've told you your white blood cells are destroyed along with the cancer. The rest period will allow your system to rebuild its supply of white blood cells and we have a better chance of controlling your anemia. What I am proposing to you though is that we give you the treatment every Friday. Since you have Dr. Brennan here taking care of you and Dr. Saroyan to assist her, if she needs help, she can keep a close eye on you to make sure that it doesn't get life threatening for you. Since, I am sure, they have all the needed machines to do the work she can also take blood tests every few days and do a full blood count on you. As usual the nurse administering your chemo will take a blood sample from you so we can monitor the cancer.

I want you to understand Mr. Booth that this is going to be very hard on you and you will want to just crawl into a hole and die. If you agree to this we'll get you through this in as short a time as possible. I am only offering this because you are in excellent physical shape and thanks to Dr. Brennan and Dr. Saroyan we've caught this at almost the very beginning."

Dr. Clark leaned back in his chair and gave Booth time to think about it.

"I've never been one to put off unpleasant things Dr. Clark and I do want to get back to work as soon as possible. I also don't want to go without seeing my son for so long. I think that I can take it and I want to get this over with as fast as possible."

"What about you Dr. Brennan, do you have any misgivings about this?" Dr. Clark asked.

"If that's what Booth wants than I have no problem with it." Brennan answered as she looked into Booth's eyes.

"Dr. Trent was pretty sure that you would go for it so I've set you up for a small procedure that has to be done at the hospital because it will be done under anesthesia. I want a catheter to be placed in a vein in your chest. We'll use this catheter to give you the chemotherapy and if Dr. Brennan or Dr. Saroyan needs to give you anything fast the catheter will already be in there. Plus they'll put another catheter in your arm in case they have to feed you intravenously. I suggest that you also get him a hospital bed to use while he is going through this. It will be a lot easier on you when you have to take care of him."

Dr. Clark checked his notebook then copied some information down on a piece of paper and handed it to Booth. "This is the time of your appointment for tomorrow morning and the location. It shouldn't take you more than an hour to recover from the anesthesia. The nurse will show you, Dr. Brennan, how to take care of the catheters." Dr. Clark stood up than. Booth and Bones stood up also. They shook hands and Dr. Clark said "Good Luck".

Booth was quiet the rest of the way home. When they arrived at his apartment he went right to bed. Brennan was tired also so she took a shower and got into bed with Booth. She thought he was asleep but when she got into bed he turned to her, put his arms around her and started to cry. Brennan couldn't do anything but hold him. She just let him cry and ran her hand through his hair and said "We'll get through this together Booth. I'll be with you all the way." She continued to run her hand through his hair until he finally went to sleep.

On Thursday morning they went to the hospital. As Dr. Clark had said it was just a short procedure and most of the time was taken up in waiting for Booth to recover from the light anesthesia.

By 12 noon they were back in his apartment. Booth packed up his clothes which included all of his pajamas and bathrobe. He knew that he would probably be going thru a lot of them. He packed up everything else he thought he would need in a suitcase and pulled them into the living room. Brennan had packed up all of the food from the refrigerator to take over to her place and taken it downstairs already. She came back to get her purse and help Booth with his things.

"You sure you have everything that you might need?" Brennan asked as she took the handle of one of his suitcases. She looked closely at him for any signs of perspiration or fever. His skin looked a little pale but that was the only difference that she could see. She saw him gazing at his apartment as they went to the door. "Don't worry Booth, you'll see it again." He smiled at her for reading him so easily then they walked out of the door and went down to his vehicle.

Thirty minutes later they were in Brennan's apartment building. Booth loaded all of his stuff in the elevator along with the box of food from his apartment. He pushed the button for her third floor apartment. He was feeling a little tired and was glad that her building had an elevator. Brennan had made some room for his things in one of her dressers the day before so he could put his things in her bedroom. She sat on the bed and helped him pull things out from the suitcase. She pulled out his collection of sox and started laughing.

He saw her looking at his crazy sox and laughing. He sat on the bed beside her. "Hey! Don't laugh at my choice in sox. Gordon Gordon says that they're my way of dealing with things. He said there a kind of rebellion against society or something like that." He put his arm around her and pulled her down with him so they could both lie back on the bed. They just laid there for awhile, neither one talking.

"I have somewhere to go this evening Bones and it's something that I have to do alone." Booth said as he held her in his arms and she had her arm wrapped around him also.

"Booth, you know that you shouldn't drive. You can get tired all of a sudden or your fever could go up. Just tell me where you want to go and I'll drive you there."

"While you were downstairs loading up things I made a call to my parish priest and made an appointment to meet him at 6 o'clock this evening. I want to go to confession before I start the chemotherapy tomorrow and I don't know how long I'll be in there talking to him. You may have to wait as long as two hours." She started to say something but he put his finger against her lips to stop any protestations against an imagined super being that she may voice. "These are my beliefs Bones and I want you to respect them. Please."

Brennan looked at him. She could tell that he had lost some weight and his skin wasn't as healthy looking as it usually was. She knew enough about chemotherapy that he would get worse before he got better. She didn't understand his need to confess what he considered his sins but she was willing to do anything to make him happy and if confessing his sins would put his mind at ease then so be it.

"I'll take you Booth and while I'm waiting for you maybe a miracle will occur and your God will send someone that will make me believe in His existence." Brennan said as she kissed him and laid her head on his chest.

"You never know Bones, you never know." Booth said as he closed his eyes and tried not to think of tomorrow.

The doorbell rang 20 minutes later. Booth was still sound asleep so Brennan carefully pulled away from him and got up to answer the door and carefully closed the bedroom door behind her. She went into the living room and looked thru the peep hole in the door. It was the delivery man from Circuit City with the entertainment equipment she had ordered.

Brennan opened the door. "Dr. Temperance Brennan?" "Yes." "Hi I'm from Circuit City with your televisions and DVD player." "Yes, bring them in." The Circuit City man and his helper brought in one large box and one box that was half the size of the other and two smaller boxes. Brennan told them to place the 50 inch television on the wall in the corner next to the fireplace. Below it she had shelves where the DVD player could be placed. It was 3:30 by the time they were done with the living room and they were ready to set up the one in the bedroom.

"Dr. Brennan, if you'll show us the bedroom we'll set up the other television and DVD in there." The one with the name tag of Conrad on his shirt said as they put all of the packing pieces back into the boxes. They gave her all of the booklets that held the information on the TV and DVD player.

"Wait here; I have someone in the bedroom sleeping. I'll be right back." Brennan went into her bedroom and woke Booth up. "Booth, I need you to get up so the Circuit City men can install the new TV and DVD player in here."

"Okay, tell them to come in." Booth said as he sat up and went into the bathroom.

Brennan showed the two men where to place the equipment. In a few minutes Booth came out and watched them. He was feeling good after his nap and was smiling all of the time they were setting up the TV. It was Booths habit to size up any man that came near him. It was both a result of his FBI training and just a personal custom as a man. The leader of the team had the name of Conrad embroidered on his shirt. His helper had the name of Tom embroidered on his. Booth estimated Conrad to be about 6'2" or 6'3", broad shoulders and a small waist. He could see that Conrad worked out with weights on a regular basis. His assistant Tom was only about 5'6" and much smaller. Tom looked like his world consisted of electronics and games.

Conrad took a double take at Booth when he saw the gun hooked up to his belt. "Are you a Cop or something?" Conrad asked as his assistant started to take the flat screen TV out of the box.

"FBI. I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth." Booth and Conrad shook hands. The other man stood up and shook Booth's offered hand. "Tom." The other man said.

"You'll have to forgive my partner he's a man of few words." Conrad said as they started to hook up everything. "I'm going to college myself. I'm in my Junior year right now and majoring in law enforcement. This job pays for my tuition. My parents help me out by letting me live in their basement where I can have some privacy. My Dad and I made it into an apartment." Conrad said as he finished the job and hooked it up to the cable.

"Are you going into local law enforcement or are you setting your sights on something bigger?" Booth asked as he sat on the end of the bed.

"I haven't made up my mind yet. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Go into local law enforcement first but put in your application for the FBI at the same time. A lot of people apply but few are chosen. That way you can still have a job until you are accepted." Booth pulled out one of his FBI ID cards and gave it to Conrad. "Show this when you apply and I'll help you out as much as I can. By the way this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute. She's a Forensic Anthropologist and together we solve crimes where we having nothing but the decomposed body or bones of a victim."

"Thanks I really appreciate this. We have to go now we have two other places to set up entertainment units at." The two men grabbed the boxes and their equipment and went to the door. Conrad turned and once again said thank you then left.

"That was nice of you to do." Booth didn't hear her though. He was standing in front of the large flat screen TV on the wall and smiling like a kid at Christmas. As Brennan joined him he turned to her and gave her a big hug and kiss.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you. As soon as I'm better I am going to show you how appreciative I am for all that you have and will do for me." He gave her a long kiss then.

Brennan pushed him away after a minute and said "We need to go if you're going to make your 6 o'clock appointment at the church. How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad. Let me get my jacket and we can leave." Booth said as he grabbed his jacket that Brennan had put on the back of a chair.

At 5:45 they arrived at the rectory where the Priests lived. Booth knocked on the door. A minute later they heard someone walking to the door. An elderly woman, with gray hair that she had pulled to the back of her head and fashioned into a tight little bun, opened the door. "May I help you?"

"Yes, I am Seeley Booth and I have an appointment with Father Daniel."

"Please come in and have a seat over here. I'll go and get Father Daniel." The woman pointed them to some chairs that were by the front door then she left.

Two minutes later a man that appeared to be in his 60s came in to the waiting room. "Hi, I am Fr. Daniel and your Seeley Booth right?"

Booth stood up and shook the priests offered hand. "Yes, I'm Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan."

"Partner? As in……?" Fr. Daniel asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"I'm sorry Father; I am so used to introducing her like that. I work for the FBI and Dr. Brennan works for the Jeffersonian Institute as a Forensic Anthropologist we work together on solving crimes, today though she is here as just a very close friend."

Fr. Daniel shook Brennan's hand and asked "Are you a Catholic also?" Booth held his breath, knowing what was coming next.

"Oh no I am just here for Booth. I don't believe in God." Brennan said with a smile.

"Well you can either sit out here or go out into our garden if you want. Fr. Brisbane, an associate of mine, takes great pride in his rose garden. He's been over to the Jeffersonians historic rose garden many times. Don't tell him I told you but I've actually seen him drooling over some of the roses. He's always hoping that he'll find a seed pod that he can pick but either other people get to them first or the gardener keeps them well trimmed." Fr. Daniel turned to Booth then and asked "Would you like to go into my office or would you prefer the church."

"Is there any place we can sit down in the garden?" Booth asked.

"Yes, there is." Fr. Daniel led Booth and Brennan outside into the garden.

Fr. Daniel and Booth went to sit on a stone bench that was in a corner of the garden and in front of a statue of the Sacred Heart while Brennan walked around the garden for awhile. It was still light out so she could still see everything okay. The garden was large and she figured that it covered at least an acre. Since it was fall there were very few flowers in bloom but she found that many of the rose bushes were forming new buds and some had already burst into bloom. She rarely took the time to go into the rose garden at the Jeffersonian but once in awhile her and Angela would take their lunch outside and sit in the open air of the garden during the summer.

As Brennan walked around the garden she saw an elderly gentleman, dressed in jeans and a light jacket, that looked to be in his early seventies come outside pulling a small trash can on wheels. He stopped and checked each rose bush for dying or broken branches. Sometimes he would take out his small shears and clip a long stemmed rose off and immediately put it in a container. The container was cleverly attached to the trash can and she could tell it was filled with water. As he worked his way up the rows of roses he inevitably came up to where Brennan was standing.

"Hello, are you admiring God's beautiful creations?" The little man asked.

"Yes, but I think they must be your beautiful creations." Brennan said as she walked over to stand by him.

"I tend to His garden and I perform maintenance but these are His creations. I could never create something this beautiful because only the hand of God could create such perfection. A rose is very much like we humans. Only God could possibly create something that works as perfectly as the human body, don't you agree?" The little man was working on the roses all the time he was speaking to Dr. Brennan.

"I'm sorry but I don't believe in God. I believe that humans and roses are the creation of evolution and not of some imagined super being in the sky." Brennan said with a smile. In her mind this was an elderly gentleman that had very little education and believed whatever he was told.

"Oh my, you poor thing. You must be very lonely with no one to talk to or to tell your problems too."

"I have my friends and I don't need an imaginary friend to talk to or tell my troubles to. I gave up my Teddy Bear a long time ago." Brennan laughed.

"May I ask what kind of work you do?" The little man led her over to a stone bench and sat down with great care. She looked at his hands and could see how swollen his joints were with Rheumatoid Arthritis. She couldn't understand how he was able to handle the shears that he used to trim the rose bushes.

"My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan, I am a Forensic Anthropologist and I work at the Jeffersonian Institute. I solve crimes with my partner Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. He is over there talking to Fr. Daniel." Brennan said with definite pride in the way she said it. She offered her hand to the little man.

He took her hand and shook it. "I am Father Brisbane, retired. I help out here in performing the Mass every Sunday." Brennan was surprised.

"Did you by any chance work at the Jeffersonian some years ago?"

"Yes I did, in my younger years though. I was known as Dr. Richard Brisbane before I quit and entered the seminary." Fr. Brisbane answered. He didn't say it with pride as Dr. Brennan had done.

"Dr. Brisbane it is an honor to meet you. Many of your writings on Forensics were required reading in my Forensics classes. Why did you leave to go into the Seminary? You're a brilliant man to be hiding in a place like this and doing such menial tasks." Brennan said as though she was scolding him.

Fr. Daniel came over to Brennan just as she was starting to have interest in the little man that she now knew was the brilliant founder of the Jeffersonians Forensics lab. "Dr. Brennan I think Seeley needs you." Brennan went running over to where Booth was still sitting. With one look at him she knew that his fever had gotten worse. Even though he had taken his jacket off and the air was cool he was sweating heavily. In fact his shirt was soaked with his perspiration.

Booth looked up at Brennan as she approached. "I need some more of that Tylenol. It doesn't seem like much but for some reason it keeps my temperature down." Brennan sat down next to him and pulled out a small bottle that contained some of the Tylenol. She opened it and gave him 2 of the pills then pulled out a small bottle of water for him to drink with the pills.

"Let's go home Booth, so you can rest." Brennan got up and picked up his jacket from the bench.

"No I want to continue with Fr. Daniel. I'll be ready to go soon, okay? Besides it will give the pills time to work." He gave her a smile to show that he was okay. But she could tell he was very tired.

"Okay, but only 30 minutes more." She put his jacket back down on the bench again and went back to Fr. Brisbane.

"Is your partner okay?" Fr. Brisbane asked as Brennan sat down again.

"He's very sick Father. On Monday he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He starts chemotherapy tomorrow. I think he wanted to go to what he calls confession before the treatments start. I know he is scared but he won't admit it. The doctors said that Hodgkins Lymphoma has an 80% cure rate with treatment but he seems to be afraid that he will be in that 20 percentile range of those that don't make it. The doctors are confident that he will be cured because they caught it so early." Brennan said with tears threatening to spill over.

Fr. Brisbane put his hand on hers. "You're in love with him aren't you?"

"Yes. We both admitted how much we loved each other after he was given the news about the cancer. I promised him that I would take care of him and I even told my director that I was going to be taking a sabbatical in order to take care of him." Brennan leaned over and was crying. "I am so afraid of losing him now. Logic tells me that his chances are very good for coming out of this cancer free but his fear and mine are pushing all logic out the window." Brennan started to tell the old priest all about her childhood and how she felt abandoned by her family.

Fr. Brisbane saw Booth and Fr. Daniel go into the church where he was sure that he was going to give him Holy Communion since he probably wouldn't be able to receive it again for some time. By the time they came out again and Booth looked over there way Dr. Brennan had regained control of herself again. She looked up when Booth called her.

"I have to go now Fr. Brisbane. May I come out to see you again sometime soon? Our little talk has proven to be very therapeutic." Brennan said as she stood up and wiped her face and blew her nose.

"Any time Dr. Brennan, just call the rectory, I am almost always here. Let me give you this before you go." He pulled out one of his long stemmed roses from the vase and gave it to her. "While you are gone I want you to contemplate this rose. When you are done I hope that you will come to the realization that there is a God and He was here and listening to you when you needed him. Goodbye."

Brennan took the rose from him, thanked him and turned to join Booth again. He held out his arm to her as she approached him. "How did your meeting go?" She asked him as they walked to the SUV with his arm around her shoulder.

"Very good actually, I don't know how to explain it but I'm not as afraid as I was before I talked to Fr. Daniel. I feel more confident that everything will turn out okay." He hugged her closer and gave her a kiss before they parted to get into the SUV.

As Brennan started up the engine and pulled out of the church parking lot she said "I feel a lot better also. I had a long talk with Fr. Brisbane. He's the elderly gentleman that I was talking to. Father Brisbane was the first Forensic Anthropologist that started the Medico-Lab at the Jeffersonian. I read all about him in the Jeffersonian Institutes history. He has a very high IQ."

"Are you surprised that such a man of science believes so much in God that he would devote his life to Him?" Booth looked at Brennan with a smile. He thought to himself 'Maybe this man will be able to prove to her that God does exist.'

"Yes I am puzzled about that but I asked him if I could stop by and see him once in awhile. I really would like to have a conversation with him on the topic. He gave me this rose and asked me to do something odd. He told me to contemplate it and maybe afterward I would believe that there is a God."

Booth didn't say anything more on the subject. He was tired so he closed his eyes and took a nap during the rest of the ride home. He was still asleep when Brennan parked the SUV.

"Booth wake up, were home." Brennan said it softly. He had been dreaming and talking in his sleep. He hadn't said anything that she could understand but because it seemed to be a violent dream she spoke softly so that she could rouse him from his dream state slowly.

After a minute Booth opened his eyes, "We're here already? I was dreaming that I was in Iraq and in a gun battle. I was captured and they were just about to start torturing me when you woke me up."

"Ha! Once again I've saved you." Brennan laughed at him and got out and locked the SUV up.

Booth joined her after locking his side. "What's for Supper, I'm starving?"

"Something light. The dietician said it would be better if you ate something very light the night before you start chemotherapy which means no meat Mr. Booth. I'll whip up something for you that will be very nutritious and have plenty of vitamins." Brennan told her patient then prepared herself for the child like moping.

Booth put his head down and acted like he had seen Parker do when he was trying to get him to try something besides spaghetti. "I don't want anything good for me on my last night before chemo starts. I want a steak and a beer." He looked at Brennan out of the corner of his eyes to see if his whining had, had any effect on her.

A firm no, was his partners only reply. They got in the elevator and Booth stood in the corner with his forehead against the wall and he wouldn't talk to her. When they arrived at her apartment he went into the bedroom and right into the bathroom to take a shower. By the time he came out she had something on the table for them both. As he sat down he saw that it was soup with various vegetables in it and some kind of crackers that looked like they had vegetables mixed in. 'At least she made me iced tea.' He mumbled to himself.

"What was that Booth, I didn't hear you?" Brennan asked as she sat down to her own meal.

"Nothing Bones." He gave her one of his winning smiles. Brennan just smiled back and started in on her supper.

TBC…………..


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next day they both got up early since Booths appointment was at 8. As usual he had awoken to a sweat soaked towel so he took another shower before they went in.

At 7:45 they walked in and Booth registered with the nurse for his chemotherapy session. At 8 o'clock another nurse took them to the back to a room where she weighed him and took his blood pressure. After she was done she said "By the way I am Theresa and I'll be taking care of you throughout your chemo treatments. If you have any questions just ask me." She took them to the back then where there were a row of recliners and poles to hook the bags of drugs from. Apparently he was the first one so she pointed him to the first recliner. "You can sit here Mr. Booth. After I get done starting the IV you can pull a chair over next to the recliner Mrs. Booth." Brennan and Booth smiled at each other but neither one attempted to correct her.

Dr. Clark had given Booth a packet of anti-nausea vomiting medicine to take 30 minutes before he started the chemo which Brennan had made sure that he took exactly 30 minutes before. He was hoping and praying that they worked because he wasn't looking forward to being sick.

Brennan watched as the nurse attached the IV to the catheter in his chest and attached a bag of the prescribed chemotherapy drugs. When the nurse left his side Brennan brought her chair over so she could sit next to Booth. She kept his mind off of the drugs he was receiving by talking to him about her last visit to see her brother Russ and his new family. She told him about a call she received from Angela and how they were getting along with her temporary replacement. Her temporary replacement still hadn't received his doctorate but wasn't doing to bad considering that he didn't have any experience. Angela had said that Hodgins was just barely controlling his temper with the guy, but daily visits to Cleopatra's bed was helping him. That got Booth laughing. (While they were talking another couple came in and the man was directed to take the second recliner.)

"I'm going to have to find out where this bed is Bones. You just might have to mollify my temper as well someday." Booth said in a low voice so the people next to them wouldn't hear.

"We will never need that Booth. Don't forget that I have my own office with a couch that unfolds into a bed and a door with a lock. Besides since we haven't had sex yet you may not be able to satisfy my needs and I'll have to look for other means of gratification to assist you, which I will be unable to keep in my office." She had said this a little too loudly and the couple next to them looked at them. The woman, whose husband was receiving a chemotherapy treatment also looked over at her and laughed. Booth saw her and then looked at Brennan, who had pulled the magazine she was looking at, up further so that it hid her red face..

Brennan's comments had given the two occupants of the recliners a brief respite to the seriousness of what was happening to them. By the time Booth was able to stop laughing the nurse had come over and checked his progress. The bag was empty so she unhooked everything. She left for a minute then came back with two paper bags with plastic liners. She gave these to Brennan. Booth was sitting up when she returned.

"Take it easy Mr. Booth. Don't get up too fast." Booth sat at the edge of the recliner then stood up carefully. He swayed a little and sat back down again. After a few more minutes he tried it again and was successful this time. "Take it easy as you walk out. The bags are for him if he doesn't make it home in time. The anti-nausea drugs don't work for everyone so let your doctor know if they don't work before you come next Friday so he can try giving you something else. I'll see you next Friday at the same time Mr. Booth."

Booth walked out with his arm around Brennan's shoulder for support. The drugs were already having an effect on him so he took it real easy. He was quiet all the way home and just rested his head against the window. When they pulled into the underground garage Brennan took it real easy so he wouldn't be jostled around. When she pulled into the parking spot and turned off the engine she looked over at him. "How are you feeling Booth?"

"Not exactly nauseated but it's bothering me enough to let me know that it's there." Booth said as he sat up straight and removed his seat belt then opened the door and stepped out of the SUV. The next thing he saw was the concrete floor, close up.

Brennan jumped out and went running over to him. "Booth, are you okay?" She asked as she helped him up.

"Yeah, I felt a little dizzy for a second. I'm okay now." He closed the door of the SUV then put his arm around Brennan's shoulder again as they started walking back to her apartment. Brennan stopped and let him lean against the back of the vehicle and grabbed her purse and the two bags then locked the door and returned to his side. They took it slowly the rest of the way to her apartment but as soon as she opened the door he went running to the bathroom. She could hear him vomiting his breakfast. She pulled out a bottle of 7up and took it to the bedroom where she put it on the night stand then just sat on the chair in the bedroom and waited.

Fifteen minutes later Booth came out of the bathroom. He was wearing pajama bottoms that he had left on the hook behind the bathroom door. He threw the clothes he had been wearing onto a chair then just crawled into the bed. He saw the bottle of 7up on the stand and closed his eyes. Brennan went over to him and sat on the side of the bed.

She ran her hand through his hair. "Is it real bad?"

"Yes, those pills didn't work for very long. I think I threw up my stomach along with everything else." Brennan pulled the covers over him and he pulled them close around his neck. "If you need anything just call me. Try to drink the 7up. Just sip it don't try to drink too much at one time or it will come up again." Brennan said as she continued to run her hand over his head. She bent over and kissed his forehead lightly then got up and put his clothes on hangers that she hung on the inside of the closet door then returned to the living room.

Brennan decided to work on her novel so she pulled out her laptop and started in on creating the next chapter. Fifteen minutes later she heard Booth get up and go into the bathroom again. She could hear him vomiting. She knew that next to laughing and yawning the sounds of someone vomiting were very suggestive so she got up and went to check on him again to make herself stop listening.

Brennan waited 20 minutes this time. She started to worry about him. The sounds of Booth getting sick had ended 5 minutes ago and yet he hadn't come out. She got up and knocked on the bathroom door. "Booth, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'll be out in a minute." She heard the toilet flush and the water running in the basin. A minute later the door opened and he came out slowly. Brennan helped him to the bed. Booth lay down again and pulled the covers over himself.

"I barely made it in there. It was coming out of both ends this time. By the time I'm done with this I am going to be as clean as a whistle." He gave her a weak smile.

"A whistle is not clean. A used one has a person's saliva in it." She said with a smile then pulled a small trash can over to the side of the bed. "If you can't make it to the bathroom use this trash can, okay?"

Booth had closed his eyes and didn't want to open them again because of the daylight coming through the windows. "Okay but would you close the drapes before you leave?"

Brennan got up and closed the drapes on both windows and turned on a small night light that she had on her dresser. This time she closed the door most of the way when she left the room.

Booth's getting up every 45 minutes to an hour to use the bathroom or use the trash can lasted most of the day. By night time he was empty but if he drank anything it would come right up. Brennan slept on the couch that first night. By midnight Booth was able to sleep through the rest of the night.

At 9 o'clock in the morning he woke up. He turned over and felt for Brennan. He didn't find her so he called out to her weakly. "Bones?" He didn't hear anything so he called out for her again a little louder. He heard her coming down the hall then.

Brennan opened the bedroom door carefully and came over to the bed. "Did you want something boss?" Brennan gave him a kiss than.

"Do you think you could give me some kind of broth or something? I don't want too much to come back up if it's going to make a re-appearance."

"Yes, I have something already on the stove and just waiting for you to wake up. I'll be right back." When she left he got up to use the bathroom and was back in bed and sitting up against the headboard when she returned. The short walk had tired him out. As he waited for Bones to return he felt the towel he was sitting on. It felt wet so he got up and pulled it off of the bed then sat down again and pulled the covers up. His temperature felt like it was running a little high so he pulled the thermometer out of the night stand drawer and stuck it in his mouth. Within a short time it beeped and he took it out and read it. It said 100 degrees. He heard Brennan's footsteps coming towards the bedroom and quickly put the thermometer away.

"Here we go Booth. I made you some egg drop soup. It's made with beef broth and a little egg. Be careful because it's hot." She had put the soup in a coffee cup. Booth took it from her and took a spoon full, blew on it than tasted it. "Mmmm it tastes good." He had a few more spoonfuls than put it on the night stand and drank some of the warm 7up. He put his head against the headboard and closed his eyes.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Brennan asked Booth softly.

"Sore, sore all over, especially my stomach. I would like to take a shower but I don't think I have the strength. I always thought I had a strong stomach, after all of the weird things I had to eat in the field, but now I think it needs to be taken cared of with kid gloves."

"Would you like me to sit with you for awhile?"

"Yes please, for just a while. What have you been doing while I've been dying over here?" Booth pushed himself down further while Brennan went to the other side of the bed and sat down next to him and leaned against the headboard.

"Working on my book, cleaning house, jogging on my treadmill, taking calls from Hodgins." Brennan said.

"What does Hodgins want?"

"He wants permission to kill my temporary replacement. I said not unless he wants to be in prison along with Bubba his new girlfriend." Booth gave her a weak laugh.

"You're learning to be quit a smart ass, you know that? What did Hodgins say?"

Brennan smiled at him. "It must be the company I'm keeping. Hodgins said okay, I'll try to contain my anger the next time he does or says something stupid but I won't make any promises."

Booth jumped up all of a sudden and went running into the bathroom. Brennan remembered what Diane had told her about him not being able to stand the smell of food so she got up and took the cup of soup back into the kitchen. Thirty minutes later she came back into the bedroom to check on him. She found him sleeping so she quietly left again. Once again she left the door slightly open so she could hear him if he called her.

At 6 o'clock in the evening Brennan heard a knock at the door and checked who it was through the peep hole. She saw Cam so she opened the door. She was so happy to see someone from work that she hugged her before she even invited her in.

"Cam, I am so happy to see you. Come in." Cam walked in and went over to the kitchen table. She had been carrying a couple of plastic grocery bags.

"How has he been doing?" Cam asked as she started emptying the bags of bottles of water.

"Not too good but the same as any other chemotherapy patient I guess. He was vomiting all day yesterday. Also, to put it in Booth's own words, it's been coming out of both ends. That only seemed to last for 5 or 6 hours though. He said he's clean as a whistle now. I wish I could do something for him. I hate being so helpless like this." Cam could see her eyes misting up at her description of what Booth was going through.

"Have you tried to get him to drink anything?" Cam asked as she picked up one of the bottles of water.

"Only 7up, but I gave him some egg drop soup an hour ago. He only had a few spoonfuls of it and a little warm 7up. His stomach rejected it within a few minutes."

"Well the most important thing that you have to worry about right now is to get some of this special water into him. With him vomiting so much and not eating or drinking anything his electrolytes are going to get dangerously low. It will make him feel even worse so I brought you these bottles of Smart Water. They will keep his electrolytes up so that he doesn't get too weak. Let's go check on him." Cam went down the hall and lightly knocked on the door. She didn't receive an answer so she just walked in. Besides the bottle of water she had her stethoscope with her.

"Booth, it's Cam." Cam put her hand on his arm. He turned over and looked at her.

"Cam? What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you and bring you some special water to drink." Cam looked at Brennan. "Has he vomited in the bed at all?"

"No he always seems to make it to the bathroom in time. I put a trash can next to the bed in case he can't make it over there."

"That's good but sooner or later it's going to happen. Just try to keep the sheets and blankets as clean as possible. Next week I'll bring a supply of masks and gloves over for you to use. As you know the chemotherapy will weaken his immune system and it will be important to keep everyone else out of his room. I advise you to remove those expensive sheets and find some cotton sheets that you can clean with bleach. They'll be the easiest to take care of." Cam checked Booth's lungs for any fluids that might have backed up in them but they sounded clear.

"I'm going to leave now Booth try to drink as much of this water as possible okay?"

Booth was asleep again though and she received no answer. Cam got up from the side of the bed and left with Brennan. Before she left the apartment she said "Try to get him up for at least a short period of time every day Brennan. The longer he spends in bed the harder it will be on him when he has to get up and go for his next treatment. If you need help with him to take him to the treatments just call me and I'll send Hodgins over."

"Thank you for coming over Cam. It really means a lot to me." To Cam's surprise Brennan gave her a hug which she had never done before. "I'll see you next week." Cam said then left and Brennan was alone again with her patient.

TBC……………


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

By Tuesday of the following week Booth had stopped vomiting everything he consumed. That evening he was able to take a shower and put on some sweat pants and shirt and was sitting at the couch with Brennan. She had fixed him a light meal of scrambled eggs and just one piece of wheat toast. She didn't think he could stomach any more than that.

When he was done with his first solid food she asked him "Do you think you're up to taking a walk outside?"

"No I think that's just a little too much right now. Tomorrow morning maybe I can but I think I just need to renew my strength so I'll just walk out to the balcony for now."

"Okay but make sure you put a jacket on because it's starting to get cold already." Brennan said as she put their dishes in the sink and washed them. Booth did as she said and walked out to the balcony. It was definitely showing a chilly crispiness to the air. He took in a deep breath. The air smelt fresh and new after the air of his sick room. Four days of doing nothing but being sick and sleeping was enough. After only five minutes though he was starting to freeze so he went inside and sat on the couch and pulled the blanket around his legs and arms. Brennan came back in after cleaning up the kitchen and saw him on the couch.

"I told you it was cold out there. Take your jacket off and I'll start the fire." Booth took his jacket off and put it in the coat closet in the hallway. In the mean time Brennan started the fire, which was gas, and returned to the couch to sit by Booth who was already sitting with the blanket wrapped around him again. He turned the TV on and looked for something they could both watch and settled on an old rerun of the Golden Girls. Brennan pulled the blanket so that she could cuddle with him under it. Before they knew it they were both asleep.

At 11 o'clock they were awakened by the phone ringing. Brennan let the answering machine take care of it. As she listened she heard someone say "Hi Dr. Brennan, this is Alicia from Pro Vitamins, we received the vitamins you ordered and you can pick them up whenever you're ready tomorrow. We'll be open at 10 AM and until 8 PM." She heard the phone click and looked at her watch. It was too late for her to go tonight so she got up and went into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for bed.

When Brennan came out of the bathroom she found Booth in the bed and asleep so she just turned the small lamp on her dresser on and turned the rest of the lights out and went to the guest bedroom where she crawled into bed. She set her alarm for 3 o'clock in the morning so she could make something for Booth to eat. She had bought some fish to feed him later. Her goal until Thursday night was to build his system back up as much as possible before he went for another treatment on Friday.

The next morning Booth woke up at 7 and went running into the bathroom. The sound of the shower woke Brennan. While she tried to go back to sleep she heard a knock at the door. She got up and threw a robe on and went to the front door. She looked through the peep hole and saw that it was Angela and Hodgins. She opened the door and gave them both a hug. "What are you two doing here so early?"

"We told Cam that we were going to come by before coming in and see if you needed anything so she gave us this supply of masks and gloves for you." Angela said as they came into the apartment.

"I don't need anything right now but you can come in for awhile. Let me go in and get dressed then I'll be right back." Brennan said as she went running into the bedroom to get dressed. Booth was just putting some sweat pants and a shirt on when she came in.

"Who was at the door?"

"Angela and Hodgins came by to see how we were and dropped off some supplies that Cam gave them. Why don't you go out and talk to them for awhile. Don't shake hands though or let Angela hug you. While you're going thru chemotherapy you have to consider yourself a delicate flower okay?" Brennan said as she started to get dressed. He just nodded okay and left.

Booth went out into the living room and greeted the two visitors. Both Angela and Hodgins stood up when he entered. "Hi, it's nice to see someone besides doctors and nurses." Angela started to approach him but he took a step back and raised his hands. "Sorry but my boss said no touching anyone while I'm going thru chemotherapy. They said the drugs don't differentiate between the good cells and the cancer cells so my immune system is being destroyed also. Bones told me to consider myself a delicate flower for now." Booth sat down heavily on the chair opposite the couch. Just getting up, taking a shower and getting dressed had tired him out and left him a little breathless.

Hodgins spoke up for the first time. "You look like crap Booth. Is this the first time you've been able to get out of bed?"

"Yeah, I got up for awhile yesterday and ate my first solid food in four days. I haven't been able to keep even water down for very long since last Friday. Bones has been taking good care of me though. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have her."

Angela was quiet while Booth was talking. She was looking at Booth and taking in how he looked. She thought he was so pale looking and his eyes had dark circles around them. She could see how his skin looked dry. She knew this meant that he was dehydrated.

Brennan came out and went into the kitchen. She put cups on a tray along with sugar and cream. She had an automatic coffee maker that made coffee by a certain time. She added the pot to the tray and took it into the living room and set it on the coffee table in front of everyone. Before sitting down she looked at Booth. "Were you sick this morning Booth or did you just have to relieve yourself?"

"No I wasn't sick the food I ate last night stayed down and now I'm hungry. Can I have some coffee also?"

Brennan poured everyone some coffee along with one for Booth. She put a lot of milk in his though so that the acidity of the coffee wouldn't upset his stomach. She put only one teaspoon of sugar in his coffee even though he would normally take it with at least 2 teaspoons full of sugar. He didn't dare protest though because he knew she would just give him what he now referred to as the Bones look.

Hodgins saw this and knew that Booth liked his with more sugar. "Dr. Brennan sure has you on a tight leash." He got an immediate response from Angela as a slap on his arm and a dirty look.

Booth smiled at Angela and Hodgins. "Yeah she does but she's my boss for now and I know she is only doing it for my own good. She's the one that went to the dietician and was told what I should and shouldn't eat or drink during the chemotherapy. That's the reason why I am bowing to her judgment in things like that. After it ends though and I am back in shape again I will throw the bonds of chains off and I am going down to the diner and order a whole pie to eat all by myself."

They all talked for 15 minutes more than Hodgins looked at his watch and told Angela "We better get going before Dr. Saroyan sends the troops after us. We stopped by Booth just to see how you were doing and deliver these gloves and masks for Dr. Brennan. We probably won't see you again until you're done with the chemo. If you need anything Dr. Brennan just call me or Angela and I'll get it for you. This is one time that I won't mind throwing my money around." He pulled Angela up and started for the door. Dr. Brennan followed them so she could lock the door.

"Jack …..Thank you." Dr. Brennan said when they got to the door. She gave both of them a kiss then and they left.

Brennan went back to pick up the tray of cups and coffee, but Booth had already taken care of it. She went over to the kitchen and found him washing the cups and putting the coffee pot back in its holder. Thanks Booth I am going to go and change the bed and wash the sheets. If you want to lie down do it on the couch okay? I want the mattress to air out for a couple of hours."

"Yes Boss." Booth said as he cleaned the cups, dried them and put them away. He was feeling a lot better this morning and thought he should do some exercising. 'If I don't exercise a little I'm going to lose this magnificent body that the girls like so much' Booth thought to himself. He went into the bedroom and pulled out a couple of dumbbells he had in one of his suitcases. They were 20 lbs. each.

"What are you doing?" Brennan asked him as she pulled the sheets off of the bed and opened the windows. It was nice outside today and not too cold so she thought she would air out the whole bedroom also.

Booth went into the living room and started to do some stretching exercises to start with. His muscles felt all stiff from being in bed so long. It didn't take him too long before he was tired and breathing hard.

Brennan came in and found him on the floor and stretched out. "Booth!" She called out to him as she kneeled on the floor next to him.

Booth looked up at her. "Sorry if I scared you. I thought I could do more than just stretching exercises but I soon found out I was wrong. After just two exercises I started having a hard time breathing." He rolled over so that he could sit up and Brennan helped him to get up the rest of the way.

"I think that is enough for now. Let's go over to the couch and I'll fix you something to eat." Brennan helped him walk to the couch where she deposited him and he laid down. She gave him the remote control for the TV than went into the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later she came back into the living room with a tray of 4 soft boiled eggs, a small slice of ham, cubed baked potatoes and a stack of wheat toast, fruit and orange juice to drink. Booth sat up and Brennan sat next to him. She started in on her own eggs which she had in little egg holders, as did Booth. He wasn't sure as to how to eat the eggs so he watched her lightly tap the egg shell with the tiny spoon then peel the top of the egg shell off so she could eat the inside with the tiny spoon.

Booth did like he saw Brennan do but instead of just peeling off the top of the egg he started to peel off the whole egg shell and mix it with his potatoes. Brennan saw him and just shook her head and continued eating her own eggs.

When he was done with breakfast Booth looked down at his stomach as though it were alive. "How you doing buddy? I hope you're happy with all of that excellent breakfast Brennan made for you." He patted his stomach and since Brennan was done also he picked up the tray for her and took it into the kitchen. After helping her to clean up he went back into the living room and lay down on the couch. He pulled a blanket, Brennan had on the couch, over himself and started to watch TV. Within a few minutes he was sleeping. Brennan came over and placed her hand over his forehead to check to see if he was hot or not. He felt warm to the touch but not hot so she thought it would be okay for him to go without any Tylenol.

Brennan called to Booth softly. "Booth."

"I was only resting my eyes." He sat up and looked at her.

"I'm going to the Pro Vitamin shop to pick up some special vitamins I ordered for you, okay?"

"Okay, I'll be right here." Booth said with a smile. He reached for her hand and kissed it. "Be careful."

Brennan had one thing to say "Yes Dear". She got up and got her jacket and purse and left then.

When Brennan returned she wrote out instructions for herself for administering the vitamins. Booth saw her working at the dining room table and came over to see what she was doing. It was half time on a football game he was watching so he was curious as to what she had bought today. "What's all this?"

"I did some research on the computer last week after I came back from the dietician. These are all of the vitamins that are recommended for people undergoing chemotherapy. Since your undergoing an accelerated program I thought this would help to keep your system more healthy and not so debilitated."

"Yeah, but what about my not being able to keep anything down for four days after the treatments?"

"These are all high doses of vitamins in liquid form. Just like drug addicts do you'll put the vitamin drops under your tongue and hold it there for about 20 seconds then you can swallow them. Your body will be able to absorb a larger amount of the vitamins that way. I also picked up bags of liquid that contain all the nutrition you need. They're administered as an IV and I'll use the catheter that's in your arm for that. Of course I'll only use those while you're unable to eat anything and keep it down."

Brennan watched Booth read all of the labels of the vitamins.

"You're really going to like the next part Booth. I talked to the Dietitian on Monday and told her about the accelerated chemotherapy you were going through. She said to ignore all of the rules about not eating meat, high calorie food or limiting the amount of dairy products that you consume. The only thing that we still have to be careful of is sugar content. The idea is to limit the amount of weight you lose during the four days you can't eat. The only time that you will refrain from eating meat is on Thursday night. Now what flavor of milk shake do you like?" Booth had a big grin on his face when she was done explaining everything to him.

For the next two weeks this was their normal routine. From Tuesday and until his next treatment he would slowly get back to being able to eat and exercise a little. Every 4 hours Brennan would give him something to eat and he would take a nap. When he woke up he would do some exercises until he was out of breath, which didn't take long. At first he could only exercise for 10 to 15 minutes. On Wednesday he would add on 5 minutes to each routine. By Thursday evening he was exercising for 30 minutes.

On Thursday evening of the 3rd week he was only able to get up to 10 minutes. Each week after the treatments and the four days of being unable to eat he was getting progressively weaker, even with all of the special feeding and vitamins. By Sunday after the 4th session with the chemotherapy he was too weak to make it to the bathroom and for the first time since he had started the chemotherapy he woke up and vomited all over himself and the bed. Diane Cullen had already told Brennan that this might happen so before she made up the bed before he went for his 4th chemo Brennan had put an old shower curtain over the top of the mattress before she made up the bed.

It had happened during the middle of the night at 2:30 AM. Brennan had heard Booth and came over to his bedroom. He apparently had turned over on his side when he started vomiting. It was all over one side of his body, the mattress and on the rug she had placed under the trash can. As she started to clean him up all he could say was that he was sorry. He kept repeating this over and over again. She could see the tears coming down the side of his face. He was more embarrassed than anything else she thought. It took her a good 45 minutes to clean everything up and change the sheets again. She was so glad that she had taken Cam's advice and purchased several sets of cotton sheet sets. Before she went to bed she put the sheets and rug into the shower and rinsed them off then put them in the washing machine. In the morning she could put them in the dryer she thought. She cried silent tears as she lay down again. She wasn't crying because of what she had to clean up or that she was tired but she was crying for him that he had to suffer so much. During the last weigh in before the treatment started the scale showed that he had lost 30 lbs. already. He had to pull his belt over to the last notch in order to keep his pants from falling off when he dressed to go to the treatments.

Booth was sleeping almost constantly now. He only woke up long enough to vomit. He was severely dehydrated and that was contributing to his weakness. Anything she gave him, except for the vitamins, would come right back up. He could only take small sips of the Smart Water without it coming back up which wasn't enough. Dr. Clark had already tried several different anti-nausea medications and none of them worked. By Monday evening he had tried to make it to the bathroom so he could urinate. Brennan had to help support him while he stood in front of the toilet. When he was done they started walking back to the bed as Booth held onto the counter. He couldn't make it though and collapsed on the floor. Even though he had lost 30 lbs. he was still too heavy for Brennan to pick up. She sat on the side of the bed to get her breath back and try to think of how she could get him up and back into bed. She thought of pulling the rug he was on but she couldn't even do that. She picked up the phone on the side of the bed and dialed Cullen's number.

"Hello……..who is this?" Diane Cullen said on the other side of the phone line. Brennan hesitated in identifying herself for some reason.

"Diane……this is Temperance Brennan. I need your help with Booth." Brennan broke down crying then.

"We'll be right there Temperance." Diane hung up and looked at her clock, it was 1:45 AM. She turned over to her husband and woke him up and told him who had called. Within 15 minutes they were on they're way. When Brennan hung up from Diane she called Cam and told her how Booth was doing. Cam said she would be there as soon as she could.

Within another 40 minutes Diane and David Cullen were knocking at her door. She went running to the door and opened it. As soon as they were in she went to Diane and started crying on her shoulder.

"Where is Booth Dr. Brennan?" Cullen asked.

"He's on the bathroom floor. I couldn't get him up. Put a mask and gloves on before you handle him." Brennan shouted at him as he went into the bedroom. Cullen went over to the only bedroom that had a light on and looked to the bathroom. There on the floor was Booth. Memories of Cullen's daughter came into his mind. All of Booth's rib bones were showing just like his daughters had when she was going through another attempt at chemotherapy. He got control of himself and took a mask and gloves from boxes he found on the nightstand. He was able to get Booth to wake up enough to help Cullen get him into a kneeling position. He used the fireman carry method to carry Booth over to the bed. When he sat him on the bed Booth just fell backwards and was unconscious again.

Cullen went back into the living room just as Cam came in with a plastic bag full of bulky items. The bag had emblems on it showing that it was from an all night pharmacy. When Brennan had let her in she hugged Cam and said "Thank you for coming Cam. Booth is so weak and he is very dehydrated because he can't keep anything down. I can only get him to take small amounts of the Smart Water. He says that he is real thirsty but if he drinks the way he wants to it all just comes back up."

"Okay Dr. Brennan let's go and take care of our big FBI man." Cam said as she smiled at Brennan. They all followed Cam into the bedroom. "Mr. Cullen, would you bring the lamp that I saw in the living room by the chair. I can use it to hang an IV bag from it." Cullen did as she asked and Cam pulled on a mask and rubber gloves then prepared to give Booth an IV of Ringers Lactate.

When she was done setting up the IV they all went out to the living room again.

"What are you giving him Dr. Saroyan?" Cullen asked her.

"Ringers Lactate Solution, it's used to treat dehydration. The solution contains sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride and sodium lactate in distilled water. Once it's done he should feel stronger. You called me just in time Dr. Brennan, the vomiting that is caused by the chemotherapy can drain all of the little noticed chemicals in our bodies that we need to function properly. Tomorrow let Dr. Clark know what has happened and tell him what I gave him okay? He should feel stronger once all of the solution goes into him."

"Thank you Cam. If it wasn't for you, David and Diane I would have had to call for an ambulance for Booth." Brennan said as she gave Cam a hug. It was then that Cam took a good look at her. She could see the dark circles under Brennan's eyes and could easily see how tired she was.

"Dr. Brennan you don't look much better than Booth." Cam said.

"I am tired but I am so afraid that he is going to aspirate the vomit into his lungs if he should be laying down when he vomits. Last night he woke up and vomited all over himself, the bed and the rug. Fortunately I had followed Diane's advice and put an old plastic shower curtain over the mattress and under the sheets just in case of that happening. It took me over 45 minutes to clean him up and the mattress and floor. Then I had to change the sheets while he was still in it. Oh Cam, I am so tired." Brennan sat on the couch then and leaned back. She closed her eyes for what she thought would only be a minute but turned into almost 10 hours.

The next time she opened her eyes the daytime soap opera All My Children was on. She looked at her watch. It said 1pm Tuesday. She sat up and looked around. Diane Cullen was sitting on one of the chairs and looking at her.

"Did you have a nice sleep Dr. Brennan?" Diane asked in a quiet voice. It took Brennan a minute to awaken fully.

"Have you been here all night?" Brennan asked as she yawned and covered her mouth.

"Yes. I told David to go home and that I would stay with you at least until you woke up."

Suddenly Brennan jumped up. "Is Booth alright?"

Diane came over to her and pulled her back down to the couch. "Take it easy Dr. Brennan, Booth is fine. He woke up for awhile around 8 this morning. He felt strong enough to sit up in bed and I fixed him something light to eat. He went back to sleep afterwards and he hasn't awakened since then. Why don't you go and check on him then take a shower and I'll have something ready for you to eat."

"That sounds good Diane, thank you for staying. I haven't slept that well in 3 weeks." Brennan got up and went over to her bedroom. Booth was awake and watching TV.

"Hi." Booth said as he looked at Brennan.

"Hi. Do you remember anything about last night?" Brennan asked as she sat on the side of the bed.

"Bits and pieces. I remember Cullen was here and Cam. It all seemed to be happening to someone else. I remember feeling very weak and I needed you to help me to the bathroom than that was it. The next thing I remember was Cam putting a needle into my arm and that's all until I woke up this morning. I was feeling stronger and was able to make it to the bathroom by myself. When I got back to the bed I started calling for you but Mrs. Cullen came in instead. She told me not to yell because you were sleeping. She gave me something to eat and drink then I went back to sleep. I woke up again just about 30 minutes ago."

"Well you had an exciting night and everyone but Angela and Hodgins were here. When I tried helping you to get back to the bed you collapsed and I couldn't get you up so I called Diane Cullen and then I called Cam and told her what had been happening to you. David and Diane came over first and David was able to pick you up and put you back into the bed. Then Cam came in with a plastic bag loaded down with supplies from an all night pharmacy. She checked you out first then hooked up an IV of Ringers Lactate which is used to treat dehydration. She said you were very dehydrated from all of the vomiting and that was why you were so weak. When she came back into the living room and explained what was going on to the Cullen's I apparently started crying from worrying about you and I guess I cried myself to sleep. Diane told me that I slept for a good 10 hours straight and I woke up just a few minutes ago."

Booth looked at Bones and with tears in his eyes he only had two words for her because he couldn't think of anything else to say. "Thank you."

Brennan leaned over and started to kiss him. She pulled back almost immediately though. "Eww! You have bad breath. Let me get you some toothpaste and your tooth brush so you can brush your teeth." She got up and went to the bathroom. Before doing anything else she put gloves on and a mask which she had forgotten to do. 'I should have done this before I got close to him. I must still be tired.' Brennan thought to herself. She quickly grabbed his toothbrush which she put tooth paste on before going back into the room. After giving it to him she went back in and got a plastic cup of water along with a hand towel and another plastic cup.

When Booth was done brushing his teeth he gave her the cup and said "Thanks, I feel better now. Why don't you come and lay down by me. I can see the dark circles under your eyes. You need more sleep I think."

"I want to take a shower first and get something to eat, besides you know your immune system is to weak for me to be near you for such a long period of time." Brennan said as she got up to go into the bathroom. She had a large glass enclosed shower, it was one of the reasons why she rented the apartment, and it had a bench on the inside. Ten minutes later she had her back to the door and felt cooler air coming into the shower. She looked around and saw Booth coming in. He was holding onto the walls for balance and stepped over to the bench and sat down.

"Can you help me take a shower? I'm too weak to do it myself right now." He had a slight smile on his lips. She knew it was more than a bath that he was interested in. It was the first time since before the chemotherapy started that he had been able to get a good look at her. He was too weak to do anything but as the saying goes 'it doesn't hurt to look'. She just smiled at him and finished rinsing herself off then started to wet him down and then proceeded to bathe him. When she went to shampoo his hair she noticed that he had big patches of hair missing and even more came out when she ran her hands through his hair and rinsed it. She didn't say anything though. When she was done she got out and dried herself off before taking care of him. She thought she would wait until tomorrow to change the sheets and let the room air out as she usually did on Wednesdays. He was always stronger on Wednesday and could make it to the couch in the living room.

On Tuesday morning, after the 5th treatment, Brennan woke up on the couch in the living room. She could hear noise in the bedroom so she quietly walked over to the bedroom. She pushed the door open and saw Booth sitting in a chair by the window that looked over the Capital. He had a blanket wrapped around him and his bottled water by him. She saw him wipe his face with a Kleenex and blow his nose. Brennan grabbed a mask and gloves and walked over to the side of the bed and sat down.

"Are you alright Booth?"

"Yes, I was just thinking about tomorrow and the hell that I will have to live through again for the next four days." He turned and looked at Brennan. "I can say in all honesty Bones, if it wasn't for you and Parker, I would let this cancer take me. I am so tired and tired of being sick. Besides I've lost almost all of my hair." He ran his hand over his head and the tears rolled down his face and he wiped them away again.

Brennan got up and wrapped her arms around his head and shoulders and hugged him to her chest. "It will be over soon Booth. Hodgins has been sending the results of the blood test that he does on the samples that I give him every 4 days to Dr. Clark. Hodgins said that he had a hard time finding any cancer cells this last time. I am willing to bet that you have only one or two more treatments to go before Dr. Clark will declare you cancer free. I believe that you will be among the 98% that is completely cured. Then we can work on getting you back to normal and back to work."

"Is that a new found faith in God that this will happen or does your information come from the science?"

"I have to confess Booth that I have gone to see Fr. Brisbane several times on Thursdays when I went out to do some grocery shopping and you were strong enough to be by yourself. He is a brilliant and knowledgeable scientist besides being a priest and has been able to answer all of my questions. Answers that are based on scientific fact, I might add. He's not like you when I have questions. He is a very patient man and a brilliant scientist. Last week when you were so sick that I had to call the Cullen's and Cam over, I woke up briefly from a nightmare and I admit to attempting a conversation with God. I made a bargain with him that if he cures you that I would talk to Fr. Brisbane more and seriously consider the possibility of God's existence. I sound kind of silly since I don't really believe in Him."

Silent tears started to fall down Booth's face again but this time he also had a smile on his face. "If my suffering this cancer is what it takes to get you to believe in God than all of this will be worth it. I don't want to contemplate being in heaven without you Bones." He wanted to kiss her but she wore a mask.

Brennan wiped away his tears. "I'm not admitting that He exists Booth, I am only considering the possibility that He exists."

"That's your first big step Bones. The rest will come later as time goes by. I think that I'll go back to bed again and see if I can get some sleep."

TBC………………


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The next morning Brennan got up early and called Dr. Sweets and asked him to come over and talk to Booth because he was depressed. She was afraid that he would go into a deep depression after the next treatment. Sweets told her that he would be there at 1 p.m. Dr. Brennan told him that she would have lunch prepared for him.

At 1 o'clock Brennan heard a knock at the door. She checked the peep hole and saw who it was. She opened the door. "Please come in Dr. Sweets. I'm so glad that you came over." She whispered to him as she took his coat. "Booth doesn't know that I asked you to come over." Sweets just nodded to Brennan.

Sweets spotted Booth at the couch and came over to him. He reached out to shake his hand but Booth, as he had done with Angela, just raised his hands and backed up. "Sorry but, as Bones puts it, I'm a delicate flower right now."

Sweets acquiesced and backed up. "Of course, I forgot for a moment."

"Please sit down Sweets. Can you stay and join us for lunch?" Brennan asked as she came over to the couch. She was doing her best to not let on that she had invited him over. Usually she would be so excited about role playing on undercover assignments that she would almost let it out who she and Booth really were.

"Yes, I think I can spare the time. I came over to see how you two were doing since you couldn't come to our weekly meetings."

"I'm going to go and finish preparing lunch then I'll call you both over when I'm ready." Brennan left then to give Sweets time to talk to Booth.

Booth looked at Sweets with a knowing smile. Sometimes Brennan was so transparent it was pathetic. He laughed at her little play acting. Booth didn't have any degree in psychology but he could read people and know whether they were telling the truth or not. It was just a natural ability he had been born with.

"Bones asked you to come over, didn't she?" It was a statement more than a question.

"Yes she did. She called me this morning and told me how you were feeling and was afraid that you might go into a deep depression." Sweets told him. He was so young looking that Booth had a hard time seeing him as an adult. He often teased the poor guy about being 12 years old even though he knew he wasn't.

At first Sweets thought that this was going to be another one of those silent treatment meetings. Finally after almost 6 minutes Sweets broke the silence.

"How have you been feeling Booth? I don't mean physically because I've heard how bad it got a couple of weeks ago."

Booth looked at Sweets. His hands started shaking and his chin started quivering. Without warning Booth started crying. Not just silent tears but the kind of crying that can make it hard for you to catch your breath. Brennan had been listening from the kitchen and she quickly turned off the stove and put a mask and gloves on and went running to Booth's side. She sat next to him and he turned to her and put his head in her lap and put one arm around her waist. Brennan hugged him as best she could and leaned her head on his back.

The atmosphere was so emotionally charged that even Sweets started to cry. When a man, such as Booth, is overcome with life's trials and tribulations you can't help feeling bad for them. Their strength often sustains everyone else, but when they buckle, it's almost overwhelming.

With tears in her eyes Brennan look towards Sweets for help. Sweets wiped his own tears away and came over to the coffee table and taking the gloves and mask that Brennan had left on the coffee table for him, he put them on then put his hand on Booth. He knew that the very act of putting his hand on Booth meant a lot. It meant more than anything he could possibly say. When he felt Booth's body stop shaking he knew that Booth could now hear anything he would say.

"Booth, it's alright to cry. It's a great pressure release valve. You've been under a tremendous strain, both physically and emotionally." Sweets said as he ran his hand over Booth's back. He thought to himself, 'he is so thin that I can feel all of his spinal column and ribs'.

After another 10 minutes Booth let go of Brennan and sat up again. He grabbed some Kleenex and wiped his face and blew his nose then leaned his head back against the couch and stared up at the ceiling. "Your right, I do feel better now that I've let that pressure release valve open. I don't know why but when you asked me how I was feeling I just couldn't keep a tight lid on it anymore. It was like a dam that was under pressure and a small leak finally broke and the whole dam collapsed. Thank you for coming over Sweets. For some reason though I am very tired and I think I'll take a nap for awhile." Brennan got up and helped Booth to lie down on the couch. She took the blanket; he had been using, to cover him. She grabbed another blanket she had over the back of the couch and covered him with that also. She took her gloves and mask off and threw the gloves in a trash can that Sweets had previously noticed was kept close to the couch. Sweets followed her example and took his gloves off and threw them away also then followed Brennan to the dining room table.

When Brennan brought over hers and Sweets sandwiches and soup Sweets asked, "Is he always tired like this?"

"Yes. The first two weeks he was able to regain some of his strength on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday. This week he has been more tired after the affects of the chemotherapy wore off. He seemed to have been even more sick than he has been as a result of the previous treatments. This past Sunday he was so weak that he didn't get up in time to make it to the bathroom. I had been sleeping in the next room when I heard him. I spent the next 45 minutes cleaning him up. He had gotten it all over the bed and rug so I had to change the sheets while he was still in the bed. It was all over the side of the bed and had fallen on the rug. By the time I went to sleep on the couch I was exhausted. The next day he couldn't even make it on his own to relieve himself. I had to help him stand in front of the toilet. When he tried to go back to the bed though he collapsed and I had to call for help. Even though he has lost a lot of weight there was just no way that I could get him back to the bed. In a way though it was a good thing that what happened, happened at that time because I called Cam to come over. When I told her that he was very dehydrated and that he hadn't been able to keep anything down she knew what to do and brought a bag of Ringers Lactate and administered it to him. He was better the next day but not by much. He had the strength to get up and go to the bathroom but it was still another day before he stopped vomiting everything."

"I can see that this has taken a big toll on you also. Are you getting enough sleep each night?"

"The days that he's sick I don't but on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I try to catch up. On those days though I feed him every 5 hours. Since he's on an accelerated chemo treatment I only get Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to give him high calorie foods to try to keep him from losing too much weight and strengthen him for the next treatment. So far with the food and special vitamins I'm giving him he seems to be doing okay in preventing him from becoming anemic but the chemo is destroying his white blood cells and because of the frequent vomiting I have to give him Ringers Lactate IV's at least once a week."

"Why is he going through accelerated chemotherapy treatments?"

"Dr. Clark offered it to him because he was in such excellent physical condition. Dr. Clark told him that normally it would take him 6 to 8 months to go through the chemotherapy for Hodgkin's Lymphoma but that with an accelerated chemotherapy it would take only a couple of months or less. Booth wanted it because he didn't want to go almost a whole year without seeing his son and he wants to get back to work as soon as possible, as you can see though it's taking a heavy toll on him."

Brennan paused for awhile and just stared at Booth.

"Yesterday I found him looking out the window and just staring out at the city. When he heard me come in he told me that he was so tired of being sick that if it wasn't for Parker and me he wouldn't care if the cancer just took him. Sometimes, when he is suffering the worst of the nausea, the thought comes into my head that I would rather that he die than continue to suffer like this. I look at him then and I think of all of the love I have for him as both my partner and friend that I think I wouldn't care to go on without him. I've learned so much from him Sweets and Booth has an infinite amount of patience with me." She stopped for awhile and blew her nose and wiped her tears away.

"I take that back, he does become impatient with me with just one thing. Sometimes I think he wants to put his hands around my throat and choke some sense into me when I tell him that there is no God and He is just a figment of his imagination." Brennan started laughing then. Sweets laughed with her. Then she told him about meeting Fr. Brisbane and about all of the long talks she has had with him.

"You know Sweets, I think that if such a man as Fr. Brisbane could believe in such a deity then there must be something to this God that so many people believe in. I think that I have had such a hard life where I had to struggle completely on my own that, that is why I have a hard time believing that there is such a person that watches over us. I think that I justify my thoughts with anthropological facts because I don't want to believe that there could possibly be a supreme being.

Fr. Brisbane says that Booth's faith is what keeps him going and that if his faith wasn't so strong that he would have buckled a long time ago." Brennan was finally quiet. She just stared out in space.

"Dr. Brennan I can give you facts from psychological studies that show people that have no faith in a supreme being have very poor outcomes when they are faced with overwhelming odds. Many of these studies are from men and women that came back from the Vietnam War, especially men that were prisoners of war. But those men that believed in a supreme being fared much better than those that didn't."

Brennan looked straight into Sweets eyes. "Do you believe there is a God?"

"Yes, I most certainly do. I also often turn to Him whenever I have to deal with many of my patients. For instance I went to see Mike Wilson just last week. Mike has cancer also, but he has already been told that he only has 3 to 6 months to live. He didn't want to go through the chemotherapy and radiation treatments when there was such a poor percentage of success. When I left Mike's house I went to my church and spent the next hour renewing my faith in God."

Brennan got up then and took their bowls of soup into the kitchen. "Let me warm up our soup."

When she returned with the hot soup they ate their lunch in relative silence. Sweets could tell that she was thinking about what he said. He had come for Booth but he thought Dr. Brennan had needed him just as much if not more. When they were done he helped her clean up so that he could give her the time to do some more talking about what Booth was going through and how she felt about it. When he left he knew that Dr. Brennan would sleep a lot better tonight.

For the last two weeks of the chemotherapy treatments Booth found the strength to endure from the love he had for Temperance Brennan and her admitting that God does possibly exist. There was no doubt in his mind that she would finally accept Gods existence.

Booth had an appointment with Dr. Clark on the Friday after the 6th chemotherapy treatment. The last report from Dr. Hodgins had shown very good results so Dr. Clark had the nurse take another blood sample from Booth before he had the 6th treatment.

Booth barely had enough strength to take a shower and get dressed, but with Brennan's assistance he was able to do it. He had lost so much weight that she had to go out and buy him one size smaller in everything he wore. Instead of a suit though, she bought him a sensible T-Shirt, pullover sweater and a jacket along with pants. He was susceptible to the cold so she also gave him his heavy coat to wear, even though it hung on him loosely. Before he went out the door she gave him a mask to wear along with new leather gloves and a proper hat. Like Parker though he rebelled at the hat and pulled out a knitted cap that he used when he went camping with Parker.

"I swear Booth, you're as bad as Parker. Next week after you've had a chance to rest and regain at least some of your strength I am going to sit you down in the kitchen and shave your head so that it will grow back all the same length."

When they arrived at the entrance to Dr. Clarks office Brennan had to go in and get a wheel chair. Booth was too weak to walk in on his own. When they entered the warmth of the outer office he stood up and removed his coat and took a seat in one of the chairs. Brennan went up to the receptionist and registered their arrival. She sat back down beside Booth.

Booth had been looking around at the other people in the waiting area. When Brennan sat down next to him he leaned over and whispered to her "At least I'm not the only one dressed weird." Brennan looked around, she saw 4 other people with masks and gloves on also. She wondered how many were going to survive their cancer.

They waited patiently for 30 minutes before the nurse opened the door and called for Booth. The nurse, as usual, weighed him first then took his temperature and a blood sample. Instead of leaving him in one of the examination rooms the nurse took them to Dr. Clark's office and said he would be in shortly.

They waited another 10 minutes. Brennan could tell that Booth was getting more and more tired and his eyes were starting to close. 'If Dr. Clark doesn't get in here soon I am going to have a hard time getting Booth into the apartment.' Brennan thought to herself.

Dr. Clark came in just a few minutes later with a big smile on his face. He shook Dr. Brennan's and Booth's hand. He noticed how weak Booth's handshake was.

"Well Mr. Booth I have very good news for you. Your last blood test showed no signs of cancer. You are completely cancer free." Dr. Clark waited a moment to let this sink in. Booth showed no sign that he understood what he had just been told. All he did was stare at Dr. Clark.

"Are you sure? There was no possible mistake at the lab?" Booth asked. He couldn't believe that he had actually won his battle with this ancient foe of mankind. Brennan saw Booth's hands shaking.

"I am sure Mr. Booth. I even had it tested twice and the last time I talked to the lab technician who was performing the test I told him that Mr. Booth was a field agent for the FBI and he had a gun. He just called me back 10 minutes ago with the same results. So it's official, you're clean as a whistle. Today I'll give you several prescriptions that I want filled today. You're to start taking these tonight. My Nurse will give you several shots that will get you started back to your normal self again. The shots will have medication in them that will help your body start to rebuild your white blood cell count again and other things. You are also anemic so the shot and pills will help you back to normal also. I want you to continue to drink that Smart Water. Drink as much of it as you can because you're still dehydrated and you need the trace elements that it gives you. Dr. Brennan you can start him on the recovery diet today. In two weeks I want to see you back here so my nurse can check on you. I'll see you in one month. If you're a good boy and you do everything that Dr. Brennan and my staff tells you then I should be able to release you back to work for desk duty only. After another 2 weeks you'll come in for tests and depending how well you are doing you could be released back for field duty."

Brennan hadn't said anything yet, but when Dr. Clark stopped talking she reached for Booth's hands and just looked at him. She could see the tears of joy that he finally let fall. Brennan was doing the same. They couldn't kiss yet since he was still wearing the mask and still highly susceptible to germs and infections. For now they let their eyes do all the talking.

Dr. Clark opened his door and stepped out for a second to call his nurse so she could take them to one of the examination rooms where she would give him the necessary shots. Dr. Clark filled out 3 prescriptions which he gave to Dr. Brennan. When the nurse came in Dr. Clark stood up and said "Go on get out of here, only sick people belong in here." Booth stood up than and shook Dr. Clark's hand.

"Thank you Dr. Clark, thank you for everything and for giving me my life back." Brennan and Booth left with the nurse then. After she gave him the shots they went out to the front where one of the clerks was waiting with his wheelchair. He looked at the chair and thought about rejecting it but then Brennan gave him her Bone's look and he sat down without saying anything.

When they got home Booth was feeling a little stronger as a result of the shots. He made it all the way from the underground parking lot to the apartment without any problem. He headed right for the couch though after giving Brennan his coat and jacket.

"Do you think you'll be alright while I go and get these prescriptions filled out?" Brennan asked Booth as he pushed off his shoes and lay down. Brennan gave him a pillow and put the blanket over him.

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'm just going to take a nap."

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can but first I'm going to stop by Wong Foo's and pick up some of his special soup." Brennan said. Booth was already falling asleep when she finished.

As promised Brennan was gone for only 45 minutes. Booth was still sleeping when she returned. She noticed that he had taken his mask and gloves off while she was gone. As quietly as she could she went into the kitchen and started warming up the soup and make sandwiches. She took some time to change and use the bathroom before she went back into the living room.

Brennan went over and shook Booths shoulder gently. "Booth wake up."

Booth opened his eyes slowly. "Hi! You weren't gone long. What did you bring back from Wong Foo's?"

"Some of his special soup. I told him the good news and he said that he was going to make you a soup that was so healthy and taste so good that you were going to be able to go back to work tomorrow. In all honesty though, I am pretty sure that it is just a vegetable soup. I have it warming up right now so I want you to go and change into something more comfortable then you can come back and I'll have it ready for you over here."

Booth did as she said and was back in the living room by the time Brennan had the soup served up in large soup cups along with a couple of sandwiches.

"It will be so good to eat again without getting sick." Booth said as he picked up the sandwich and took a small bite. He had been sick for so long that it was now his habit to hesitate before taking more than one bite. He drank some of his soup next then put it down and turned the TV on. He played with the remote for awhile until he found something interesting. Brennan saw what he was doing.

"Eat your soup before it gets cold Booth. You don't have to be afraid to eat anymore."

"Logic tells me that the cancer is gone now but habit tells me to be cautious or it might come up again."

"What does your little buddy say about that now?" Brennan asked him as she patted his stomach.

Booth looked down at his stomach. He seemed to be waiting for his stomach to reply to her. After a few minutes he looked up at her and smiled. "He seems to be saying it's okay Booth, I'm keeping whatever you give me. Now when are you sending down a slice of pie?"

Brennan smacked him in the stomach and smiled. "I think that chemotherapy killed some of your brain cells also. Now eat your soup and sandwich. While you're taking a nap I am going to go to the pharmacy and pick up your medicine. They said it would be an hour before they would be able to fill your prescriptions so I just left them and went to Wong Foo's. While I am doing that I'm going to stop in at the lab and let everyone know about the good news."

Booth obediently did as he was told then took the tray into the kitchen and cleaned the dishes and put them away. Brennan had already left and he was on his own. He didn't feel sleepy right now so he grabbed the phone. "I think I'll call Rebecca and Parker and tell them the good news."

"Hello." Rebecca had picked up the phone on the second ring.

"Hello, this is Seeley Rebecca. I thought I would call you and let you know that I was given good news today. Dr. Clark said I am cancer free."

"Oh Seeley, I am so happy for you. Would you like to tell Parker the good news?"

"Yes, if he's home." Booth was so excited about talking to his son for the first time in over 6 weeks. He could hear Rebecca calling Parker to the phone and the loud thumping noise he made as he hopped down the stairs instead of walking.

"It's your Daddy Parker and he has good news to give you." Rebecca told her son as she gave the phone to him.

"Hi Daddy."

"Hi Parker, I received good news from my doctor today and Daddy isn't sick anymore. He said I was all cured and the nasty cancer was gone." He could hear Parker bouncing up and down and yelling.

"When can I come and see you Daddy?"

"Not for at least 3 more weeks Buddy. Daddy can get sick real easy again so I have to do what the doctors tell me to do and take all of the pills they give me and stay away from people for awhile yet okay Buddy?"

"Okay Daddy. I miss you so much. Is Dr. Bones still taking good care of you?"

"Yes she sure is and you know what Parker?"

"What Daddy?"

"She won't let me have a steak and a beer. She only gives vegetable soup to eat and small sandwiches, just like your mother does to you when you're sick. She is so mean to me."

"I know it's no fun Daddy but that's the best thing for you right now, at least that's what Mommy always tells me. So you do what Dr. Bones tells you to do so you can get all better and then I can come and see you, okay Daddy?" Parker said this in a very serious voice.

"Okay if I have to I'll do what she says. I guess she knows what's best. I love you Parker and I can hardly wait to see you again. Goodbye son."

"Goodbye Daddy, I love you too." Parker said then hung up the phone and turned and told his mother all about what his Daddy had told him.

Booth hung up the phone and had to blow his nose and wipe away his tears. He lay down then and turned the TV on and looked for a game. When he didn't find any he settled for a Disney movie that was one of Parkers favorite, Nemo. It was just starting, but he fell asleep before the title even came on.

While Booth was taking a nap Brennan was out getting his prescriptions filled. When she was done at the pharmacist she headed for the Jeffersonian. When she got there no one was on the platform so she headed for Angela's office, her office was completely empty. She checked on Hodgins and then Cams office, all of them were 'completely' empty. None of Angela's pictures were hung and none of Hodgins toys were in his office. 'What's going on here?' Brennan said to herself. She took out her cell phone and called Angela.

"Hi Angela, this is Brennan."

"Hi Sweetie, where are you?"

"I'm at the Jeffersonian, where is everyone?"

"I'm over at Hodgins we were just about to go out for the night. Didn't Cam tell you that they were going to update the platform and offices since you were on sabbatical and we didn't have any cases to work on?"

"No, she didn't say anything. Well it's about time for them to finally update this place. They've been promising to update it for a whole year. I came over to give everyone the good news about Booth. We saw Dr. Clark this morning and he said that Booth is now cancer free and he gave him a bunch of prescriptions to fill so we can start rebuilding his immune system." Brennan could hear Angela screaming over the phone and calling for Hodgins.

"Sweetie that is so wonderful. It's too bad we can't come over to help you celebrate." Angela said excitedly.

"Yeah, it's too bad but I still have to treat him like a delicate flower for the next 3 or 4 weeks. At least until we get the go ahead that his white blood cell count is back up to normal. I wanted to tell Cam that I would be back to work in another 2 weeks. By then Booth should be doing well enough so that I can leave him alone during the day. He doesn't know it but I'm going to go and rent him a Bowflex and I have my treadmill so he can practice running and building up his endurance at home since he can't go outside yet. Dr. Clark told Booth that if he was a good boy and did everything that his staff and I told him then he would probably be able to release him to desk duty in one month, then field duty about 2 to 3 weeks after that."

"I hope he realizes what a prize he has in you Sweetie."

"He does Angela, he does. Oh Angela, I was so afraid of losing him. He has been so sick during the chemotherapy. Did Cam tell you that I had to call her and the Cullen's to come over and help me with him one week? You should see him now Angela. I had to help him take a shower because he is so weak. You can see all of his ribs and back bone."

"Were you in the shower with him?"

"Yes." Brennan laughed at Angela's question. "I know he was enjoying the view but he is too weak to react to it." Brennan said as she laughed. She could hear Angela laughing on the other side of the phone also. "Well, I better call Cam and find out when they'll be done with the update. Goodbye Angela."

"Goodbye Sweetie, tell Booth I send him my love and tell him that I hope he gets better soon so you two can finally have your night together." Angela hung up than so Hodgins and she could go out and she could tell him all about her conversation with Brennan.

Brennan punched in Cam's phone number but only got a busy signal. She left a message for her to call her whenever it was convenient to show her that it wasn't an emergency. Brennan went out to find a Bowflex then. She couldn't find one to rent so she bought one and had it scheduled to be delivered next Monday. When she was done with that she thought she would give Booth a treat and went to the grocery store to buy a filet mignon steak along with some fresh vegetables. When she was done at the grocery store she returned home.

When Brennan arrived she found Booth on the couch sleeping so she went to the dining room table and took out the bottles of medicine she had picked up at the pharmacy and read them. She wanted to make sure that she had the time and circumstances of when they were to be taken down correctly. When she was done with the pills she went in to make dinner. It was 5 o'clock and she wanted Booth to eat by 6. Tonight she would prepare him a dinner of half of the filet mignon, brown rice and spinach. She made a garden burger for herself along with Sweet Potato fries.

When everything was done she went over to Booth and lightly shook his shoulder. "Booth, wake up. It's time for supper." He opened his eyes and sat up.

"I was dreaming that Parker and I were playing with a Frisbee in the park." Booth sat up and sniffed the air. "Mmmmm, something smells good. It smells like a steak."

"It is, go and clean up and I'll have supper on the table when you get back." Brennan told him.

Booth went into the bathroom to clean up and headed for the dining room as fast as he could. When he saw what was for dinner a big smile broke out on his face. He looked at Brennan and leaned over to her. He wanted to kiss her but he remembered at the last second that he still had to be careful. Instead he just said "You are too good to me Bones. I don't know what I did to deserve you." Next to Booth's plate Brennan had placed each one of his pills. He took each of them before eating and washed them down with Iced Tea. He started in on his dinner and didn't even complain that the portion of meat on his plate was so small; instead he cut the meat up into small sections and savored each peace as he ate it. He loved spinach and rice so he savored each bite of these also.

When they had finished eating Booth helped Brennan clean up. They sat on the couch for a couple of hours and watched TV. Brennan was the first to speak. "From now on and until your back up to your normal weight I am going to be feeding you small meals like I did tonight every 5 hours okay?"

"That sounds good to me. Do I get the rest of that steak at the next feeding of my skinny body?"

"Yes, along with some more spinach and some Jell-O. Everything I give you from now on will be geared toward you regaining your strength which means that a great portion of your meals will consist of protein of some kind. And before you ask, no, that doesn't always mean meat. There are other foods that contain protein besides meat."

"Like what?"

"Like for instance most types of nuts contain a lot of protein. If you find yourself craving meat that means your body is telling you that it needs protein. So eat some walnuts or something. Just make sure that the amount you eat at one time is small since they still contain a lot of calories. When I go back to work I'll make up small containers of prepared food for you so that all you have to do is pop them into the microwave. I'll also tell you what the combination of food should be."

Booth just looked at her with a grin. "You're going to love this aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're going to have complete control of everything I do and eat for the next month or so."

Brennan didn't have any gloves or mask on right now since she was eating also. She kept them close by though and she grabbed both and put them on. She leaned over then and put one hand over his stomach and pressed the mask to his lips. "My only purpose will be to get this," she pressed her hand more firmly over his stomach, "back to the way it was before the chemotherapy started and to make sure that nothing comes between my lips and yours ever again." She gave a kissing sound then pulled away.

"On Monday they will be delivering a Bowflex exercise machine so you will be able to start exercising your muscles again and get them back into shape. Until Monday you can start walking on the treadmill for a few minutes every 4 hours. Before you start that though we have an appointment with a physical therapist to show you how you should start exercising."

Booth stood up and came to attention and saluted Brennan. "Sir, yes Sir. Are there any further orders Sir?"

"At ease soldier. Just remember soldier that if you disobey any of my commands I am going to punish you in such a way that you won't ever disobey one of my orders again. Do you understand Mr. Booth?"

"How can you possibly punish me for not following orders?" Booth sat down again next to Brennan.

"I can show you right now." Brennan got up and went into the bedroom. She closed the door and undressed then got into the shower. When she came out she looked in her closet for the most beautiful teddy that she had. As she held it up in front of her she slowly developed the most wicked grin. The teddy was made of the most shear black lace. Strategically placed extra lace hid the most important parts from view. She put it over the bed then blow dried her hair and put make up on. When she was ready she put the teddy on then a shear, black, full length robe with sleeves that hung down to the floor and tied in the front by a big, black, satin bow. She slipped on black slippers with 1and a half inch heels and little, black, powder puffs at the toes. She opened the door then. On the chair next to the door she placed her thick cotton, long sleeved nightgown that buttoned all the way to her neck along with a pair of one of Booths clownish socks. She looked into the living room and could see the back of Booth's head.

"I want you to close your eyes Booth and don't open them until I tell you too, alright?"

"Okay." Booth answered.

Brennan turned the lights off along with the television. The only light in the room was from the fireplace now. She stood in front of the fireplace so that the light would show through her main weapon.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now." Brennan said as softly and seductively as she could.

Booth opened his eyes and stared at Brennan. He felt his heart beating faster. His respiration increased also. With the light from the fire flickering through the shear lace he could easily see between her legs. He realized then that he was starting to drool so he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He watched her as she walked around the coffee table and stood in front of him and slowly pulled the satin ribbon until the robe fell to either side of her breasts. Brennan seductively pulled the robe further to the sides and picked up an unused mask from the coffee table and put it on Booth then sat on his lap with her legs on either side of his. She unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it to the sides. Then she carefully maneuvered herself so that her breasts rubbed against his chest and then his face as she reached behind him and turned the lamp on to its lowest level. She slowly lowered herself again until she could look straight at him.

"If you're a good soldier and obey, to the letter, everything that your commanding general tells you then when the doctor releases you to go back to work you will get this." She ran her hands over her breasts and down to her stomach and hips. She rubbed her open legs over him until she could tell she was having the desired effect on him. Then she leaned forward and left a perfect imprint of her lips on his mask. She lifted herself off of him then. "Wait here and don't move."

Brennan went into the bathroom and washed her makeup off and pulled her hair back into two braided pigtails. She slipped off her teddy and got into the cotton nightgown and clownish socks then went into the living room. "Close your eyes Booth." He did as she said. This time she turned the lights on and sat down on the couch next to him. "You can open your eyes now."

Booth opened his eyes and looked at her and started laughing when he saw the socks.

"This is what you will get if you disobey my orders." Booth jumped up then and saluted her again.

"Sir, yes Sir. Do you have any further orders for me tonight Sir?"

"I think it's time for you to go to bed now Booth. It's 10 o'clock already."

"Sir, yes Sir." Booth saluted then went to bed as ordered. Brennan was tired so she turned the lights off, checked the door again and went to bed in the spare room where she had been sleeping.

TBC……………


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next day Brennan received a return call from Cam. She picked up the phone on the 2nd ring. "Brennan."

"Hi Dr. Brennan, this is Cam, I'm just returning your call."

"Hi Cam, I wanted to let you know that Booth's tests for cancer came back clear. He is being given medication now to re-build his immune system and red blood cell count back up to where it should be."

"Tell Booth that I'm very happy for him. I presume that you're interested in when the updating of the lab will be complete so you can come back to work?"

"Yes, I stopped by there yesterday to let everyone know about the good news and I saw that all of the offices were empty. I called Angela and she told me about the update of the lab. I wanted to tell you that I'll be ready to come back to work in two weeks. I think that it will be safe to leave Booth alone after that."

"I have been told that all the work should be done within two weeks so your return should be right on time for the re-opening of the lab. The Jeffersonian is giving everyone paid time off while they work on the lab. The Friday before you return call me to make sure that the lab is done, okay?"

"Okay Cam, I'll call you in two weeks. Goodbye." Brennan hung up then and went into the kitchen to start Booths first lunch of the afternoon. He had started walking on the treadmill for a few minutes every 4 hours. Each time he did it he would add a minute so that by the end of the day he was trying to walk for 5 minutes straight. The last time he got on the treadmill for the day his body explained to him in great detail why he should slow down. He was nearing 5 minutes, and breathing hard, when he lost his grip on the side bars and fell face first while the treadmill continued to deposit him on the floor. Brennan came running over to him. She quickly turned off the treadmill then went to his side.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, just my pride." Booth said in between deep breaths as he sat on the floor. Brennan could see how red his face was.

"Booth you're supposed to take it easy at the beginning. This is not where you are supposed to pay attention to the saying 'No Pain No Gain'. Now I don't want you adding on anymore time. You walk for 4 minutes at a time and no more. Don't add on even 1 minute until you can do the 4 minutes without even breathing hard. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes Sir." Booth said as he struggled to get up. Brennan helped him to stand up than helped him over to the couch.

She sat with him on the couch for awhile while she caught her own breath. "I guess I have to build up my endurance also. I was worrying so much about you that I forgot to exercise. Don't forget that we have an appointment with the physical therapist on Monday." Brennan sat for a few minutes with Booth then got up to finish their lunch. She was making a small hamburger for him and a garden burger for herself.

On Monday they didn't have to go to the Physical Therapist until 2 in the afternoon. As soon as Booth got up he did some exercises than took a shower. By the time he came out to the living room his breakfast was ready for him. After breakfast he helped Brennan clean the kitchen up.

When they were done Brennan pulled over a chair and placed it by the sink. On the counter she had a pair of scissors, a mirror, his razor, his shaving cream, a wash rag and a towel to put around his neck.

"Come on Booth, have a seat." Brennan said as she patted the chair.

"This is it huh?" Booth said as he came over and looked at everything.

"Yup, this is it." Brennan patted the chair again. Booth gave a heavy sigh then sat down. She wrapped the towel around his neck and fastened it with a large safety pin. She proceeded then to cut what little hair he had left down to just above his skin. Then she lathered his head up with his shaving cream and proceeded to shave the last of his hair off of his head.

When she was done she took the towel off and wiped the moisture off of his skin than gave him the mirror. Booth took it and ran his hands over his head. "My head hasn't felt this naked since I went into the Army."

"It looks fine. By the time you go back to work it will have started to grow back and you'll look half way normal." Without him noticing it she pulled her cell phone out that she had in her pocket. She made some noise so that he couldn't hear her placing a call to Angela. When she heard the phone ring and Angela pick it up she called to Booth to get his attention. When he turned and looked at her she snapped a picture and sent it to Angela before he could stop her.

Booth grabbed for the phone. "You brat, I'll get you for this." He thought about it for a minute then started laughing. "Call Rebecca and send it to her for Parker." Brennan did as he asked. When she heard Rebecca laughing on the other end she gave the phone to Booth after telling Rebecca to wait for a second so she could wipe the phone down with a Lysol Wipe.

"She scalped me Rebecca. I want you to tell Parker how Bone's shaved all my hair off. ………Yeah, I only had a few patches left so she shaved it all off a few minutes ago. At least it will all grow back at the same length now. ……….I thought Parker would get a good laugh out of it. Tell him we are going to see if Dr. Clark will let me see him in two weeks if my immune system is doing well enough………..Yeah, I guess you're right. Tell him I love him and I can hardly wait to see him." He hung up the phone than and gave it back to Brennan.

"What did she say?" Brennan asked as she put her phone back in her pocket.

"When I told her that I might be able to see him in two weeks, if the Doctor says it's okay, she said that we should wait to see if I can see him in two weeks. He won't be disappointed then if Dr. Clark says no."

At 1:30 they left to see the physical therapist. Booth was shocked when he saw him. Bob Lee was a short, dark haired, oriental man. In all other respects he looked like any other person you would pass on the street. Then he took off his white coat when they arrived in the large room with a lot of equipment. Bob Lee had muscles on his muscles. Even though he was short Booth thought he could break a smaller man then himself.

During the next hour Bob tested Booth to see what he could do now then showed him what kind of exercise he wanted him to do along with the exercises on the Bowflex and the treadmill. He also made sure that Booth understood how fast he could progress and he was not to deviate from his instructions.

"Next week Monday Mr. Booth I will come to your home and see how you are doing. If you're working out okay I may change the amount of repetitions you can do. The whole goal here Mr. Booth is to get you back in the field as soon as possible. When I heard you were going to be my patient I checked out the physical requirements of the FBI for field agents. With hard work on your part I believe we can get you to their requirements within the next 6 to 8 weeks. Each week when I come to see you I will be able to tell if you are pushing yourself too hard so don't try to cheat because you'll only be cheating yourself."

"You won't have to worry about my cheating Mr. Lee. My boss here will punish me if I don't follow your instructions." Booth said as he shook his hand. Bob looked at Brennan and guessed at what Booth meant. He broke out in a grin and turned red when he figured out what Booth was talking about.

When Brennan and Booth returned to the apartment he was tired so he laid down for a nap. Brennan let him sleep until 4 so that he could work on his exercises.

During the next two weeks this was what Brennan's and Booth's daily schedule was going to be.

6 A.M. – Wake up Booth. Exercise for up to 15 minutes.

6:30 A.M. – Breakfast.

8 A.M. – Clean house.

10 A.M – Take a 30 min. nap.

11A.M. – Exercise with Booth.

12 Noon – Fix lunch.

1 P.M. – Booth takes a slow walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes while watching All My Children. (Booth made Brennan promise that she wouldn't tell anyone that he had become addicted to the show.)

3 P.M. – Take a 30 min. nap.

4 P.M. – Booth exercises for 30 min. Work on book.

6 P.M. – Fix Supper.

9 P.M. – Bed time.

12 Midnight – Fix Booth a lite snack. Then back to sleep.

The beginning of the second week started with a weigh in. Booth got on the scale. "Pretty good Booth. You've gained 5 pounds." Brennan said. "All that exercising is making sure that it turns into muscle and not just fat. I think I should increase the amount of food you at one time. Are you still hungry after you eat?"

"Yes I think I can take larger portions now. My stomach is doing a lot better now and I'm not having any problems like I did at the beginning of last week. For the first time in 2 months I feel good." Booth said as he got off of the scale. "Maybe even good enough to have some extra physical activities." He tried to pull Brennan to his side.

"Not yet mister, at least not until the Doctor says that your white blood cell count is up to normal. Plus I want you and I to be back in top physical shape before we do anything because it's going to be a very, very active night when we get the okay." Brennan said as she pushed him away and pulled at his mask to remind him. They were both getting sick and tired of the mask that was a constant reminder that he still had to be careful.

At the end of the second week Brennan called Cam to check on the readiness of the lab. "Hi Cam, this is Brennan. How is the lab going? Is it done yet?" Cam could easily tell that she was eager to get back to work.

"Hi Temperance, yes I got the call just about an hour ago that everything was finished. So it will be back to work as usual this coming Monday."

"Good, I am anxious to get back to work again. I'll see you Monday, Goodbye." Brennan hung up the phone and went to tell Booth the news. She found him sitting on the couch and lifting the 5 lb. barbells. As ordered he was taking it easy and starting out working with a lighter weight of barbells than what he was used to. Next week he was going to start using the 10 lb. barbells but with fewer repetitions than what he was currently doing with the 5 lbs. He had taken the physical therapists warning seriously when he told him that if he didn't do as he said he would risk having a rotator cuff injury that would take 6 months to a year to heal.

"Well Booth at looks like you're going to be on your own starting next week. I just got off the phone with Cam and she said the lab is ready for us to move back in. If it's quiet next week I want to invite Fr. Brisbane over to see things. I think I'll also try and talk the Jeffersonians Gardner into letting Fr. Brisbane have some cuttings or seed pods from some of his rose bushes."

Brennan thought that Booth would be happy at the news, but he didn't look happy at all. "What's the matter?"

"I won't see you all day." Booth told her. She could see his eyes starting to tear up.

She put her gloved hand over his and said, "I tell you what, on Tuesday I'll take a blood sample from you and have Hodgins run a test on it to see how your white blood cell count is doing. Then I'll call Dr. Clark and ask him if he thinks you can be exposed to Parker." That brought a smile to his lips.

"Parker is like a built in friend for you that you miss when you can't see him for very long." Brennan said it as a statement.

"Yeah, I guess he is. I guess that is part of why men hold sons as being so important to them. They're like a friend that always likes to go to wherever you like to go. You always have adults to talk to whenever you're away from them but it's just not the same as having a close friend that you can pal around with. When he gets older I hope that, that relationship will get even stronger."

"Are you hoping that he'll follow in your footsteps?" Brennan asked as she leaned back against the couch and Booths shoulder.

"Yes and no. I want him to be able to go into the FBI but at the same time I don't want him to be in danger of being shot or, God forbid, killed. It's bad enough that I worry about you all of the time, but at least I'm always there and we watch each other's back."

Booth looked down at Brennan as she leaned against his shoulder. It had suddenly occurred to him what she had said before. "What do you mean you have to get into top physical shape also?"

"I haven't been exercising as much as I should while you've been sick. I've been worried about you so much that it took up most of my time and that is why next week I am going to go back to school with my Martial Arts teacher. The exercise we engage in is very hard on the body but it's what enables me to keep up with you. I'll ask Dr. Clark if it's okay if you just go with me and sit on the side watching."

"That sounds good to me but I'm still going to miss you during the day." He wanted so much to make love to her right now but he knew he couldn't. Even if he wasn't wearing the mask he knew that he wouldn't have the stamina to give her what he wanted to.

Booth worked hard to get back into shape. The Bowflex had been delivered the first Monday after he was given the good news and after seeing the Physical Therapist he stuck to the schedule he gave him. He didn't try pushing himself too hard. Like Brennan and the Physical Therapist had told him, this was not the time for the NO PAIN NO GAIN saying to be used.

At the beginning of the third week Brennan went back to work and he was lonely without her so he called up Dr. Sweets and got him to come over and visit him under false pretenses. Dr. Sweets told him he would be over by 2 in the afternoon.

Before going to see Booth, Sweets called Dr. Brennan at the Jeffersonian first. He had guessed that she must have gone back to work, because Booth would never have called him on his own.

"Dr. Brennan. Hi this is Dr. Sweets."

"Hi, Dr. Sweets how are you?" Brennan answered.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to ask you if Booth was doing okay now or was he feeling depressed again?"

"No, generally speaking he is doing okay. Today is the first day I've left him alone and I'm back at work. How did you know to call the Jeffersonian?"

"Booth called me and said he wanted to talk to me. I know that he would never call me on his own so I guessed that he was lonely and needed some company since you had probably gone back to work. I'm going to go over and see him at 2 this afternoon. I don't have any appointments so I'll stay with him until you get home, okay?"

"Thanks Dr. Sweets. I'll see you around 6. Goodbye." She hung up the phone then turned to Cam and Angela. "It seems Booth is lonely and is calling in backup."

"Sweetie, Booth is rubbing off on you too much. You're starting to sound like him." Angela said.

"What kind of backup is he calling in?" Cam asked.

"He called Sweets up and told him that he needed to talk to him. Sweets said that he knew Booth would never call him on his own so he guessed that I had gone back to work. He said that he would stay with him until I got home." Brennan was smiling all the time she was telling them about Booth's tactics.

"Poor Booth, he must be really lonely if he's calling up Dr. Sweets for company. Maybe we could all take turns keeping him company for a couple of hours during the day?" Angela suggested.

"No, he has to get by on his own. He's already called me several times asking where things are when I know that he knows where everything is. I promised him that tonight I would bring a syringe home so I could take a sample of his blood and ask Hodgins to run a test on it to see how high his white blood cell count is. Then I promised that I would call Dr. Clark and ask him if it was safe for him to see Parker. That made him happy for awhile."

At 2 o'clock Dr. Sweets knocked on Dr. Brennan's apartment door. He could hear Booth running to the door on the other side. Within the next second Booth pulled the door open. "Come in, come in Sweets." Booth patted Sweets on the back as he walked in.

Sweets noticed that Booth had his mask and gloves on. Booth directed Sweets over to the couch where he had some coffee already prepared with cups of cream and sugar.

"Come and sit down. Have some coffee." Booth said as he sat down also. Sweet made himself a cup of coffee then sat back on the couch. He looked at Booth then and waited for him to say something.

"How have you been kid?" Booth asked Sweets with a big smile. Sweets just smiled back at him and put his cup back on the coffee table.

"Okay Booth, I know what's going on. After you called me I called Dr. Brennan. I know that this is your first day without her and your lonely."

"How did you figure that out?" Booth asked as the smile slipped off his face.

"Number 1, you would never call me to just talk to me as a psychiatrist. Number 2, as I said I talked to Dr. Brennan and she told me this is your first day without her to keep you company. Now if you promise to stop calling me kid, I'll stay here until she gets home." Booth was quiet. He knew he had been caught and Sweets had him against the wall.

"Okay, I promise to "try" and stop calling you kid." Sweets just looked at Booth and knew that that was the closest he was going to get as a promise to stop calling him kid.

They spent the rest of the hour playing cards and talking. By 3 o'clock Booths eyes were starting to shut and even though he thought he was just resting his eyes, he slept for the next hour. Sweets took the cards out of Booths hands and laid him down on the couch and covered him with the blanket Brennan kept on the couch.

By 4 o'clock Booth woke up to the sound of the TV. He sat up and saw Sweets watching the Oprah show. "I guess I fell asleep. I was feeling so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open."

"Don't worry about it Booth. You're still recovering from the chemotherapy. Your body took a beating and it's going to need time to repair itself. I am guessing that today was the first time that you had to be continuously active for so long."

"Yeah, I think your right." Booth said as he checked his watch. He could see that it was time for him to start working out again. "According to Bone's schedule I am supposed to start exercising for the next 30 minutes." Booth got up and went into the bathroom and washed up. A few minutes later he was feeling refreshed and came and found Sweets on the treadmill. He had taken his jacket and shirt off and just had his pants and t-shirt on. Booth went over to the Bowflex and started his routine. He had started out with only 5 lbs. on the weights but was now up to 10. After 30 minutes he stopped. He was tired but not out of breath and he felt relatively good. Today was the first time that he exercised and just barely broke a sweat where as Sweets was panting and sweating heavily.

Booth went into the kitchen and poured each of them a tall glass of iced tea. "You need to start working out more Sweets. At least I have the excuse of having just gone through chemotherapy."

When Sweets regained his breath he said "I have had to deal with something even worse Booth."

"What's that?"

"Two crazy, messed up people that are finally getting their act together. Not only that but I've been busy trying to find a way that we can get Zack out of that special prison he is in now that he shouldn't be in. That brain of his is being wasted in there. We all know that he didn't kill anyone."

"Well you got me there Sweets. Just to let you know though, I asked Caroline to look into the problem. She called me a couple of days ago to let me know that she has found some little known previous ruling on a similar case that she thinks fits Zack's situation. She doesn't want to raise anyone's hopes up yet because she still has to talk to the ruling judge." Sweets sat up and was listening closely to what Booth was saying.

Booth saw the look on Sweets face. "Don't tell anyone Sweets. That information is strictly confidential. I only told you because you're his psychiatrist and your working on the same thing."

"That's good news Booth, that's very good news. It would be a very big gift to Dr. Brennan if Caroline can pull this off. In fact it would be a very big gift to every one of them. Just to show you how happy I am about this news I'll even come to see you on Fridays." Sweets said with a big grin on his face.

TBC………..


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

When Brennan took a blood sample from Booth and had Hodgins test it, the next day, she knew that his white blood cell count was still too low to expose him to Parker so she didn't even bother calling Dr. Clark. When she gave Booth the bad news he just accepted it without giving her an argument. She didn't think that it would be wise for him to go to her Martial Arts school to watch her either, at least not until for a couple of weeks.

The 2 weeks later she took another sample and tested it and his white blood cell count was much improved. She decided to call Dr. Clark before letting Booth know what the test had come up with. She faxed the report to him while she was still on the phone with him. After he checked the report Dr. Clark told her to bring him in on Thursday so he could see him.

Brennan called Booth as soon as she got off of the phone with Dr. Clark. "Booth, this is Brennan."

"Hey Bones, do you have the results of my blood test?"

"Yes, and it was so good that I called Dr. Clark and he wants to see you this coming Thursday." The phone was quiet on the other side. "Booth?" He was so quiet that Brennan was worried.

"I'm here Bones. I was just thinking that this nightmare is almost over. When are you going to be home?"

"I'll be there at the usual 6 o'clock."

"I'll be waiting with supper. Goodbye." Booth hung up it was 4 o'clock and time for him to start exercising again. This time he increased the weight on the Bowflex so that he was going to be up to his normal weight level. On Monday when he had stood on the scale it showed that he was only 10 lbs short of his normal weight so he felt it was about time to get back to normal on his exercising. Even though he had brought down the amount of repetitions for each exercise he was breathing hard and he was a little sore. As soon as he was able to he got on the treadmill. He kept running until he got up to 5 miles. He was holding onto the bars of the treadmill by the end. He had to practically crawl over to the couch where he laid down and fell asleep until Brennan came in.

As promised Brennan was home by 6 P.M. and found Booth on the couch sleeping. She went over to the Bowflex and saw how much weight he had been exercising with. She then checked the treadmill. She heard Booth stirring and went over to the couch and sat across from him. When he opened his eyes he saw her.

"Hi." Booth said as he sat up. Without saying anything he pulled her over to him and gave her a kiss, right smack dab on the lips. It was just a short one but one that he hoped would be the first of many.

"I see you're feeling good after your nap. When I came in and saw you sleeping on the couch I checked the Bowflex and treadmill and found you had the weights to your usual amount and that you took a long run. How are you feeling?"

"A little sore but I'm always like that whenever I increase the amount on the Bowflex. I started out with fewer repetitions but by the end of next week I should be back to normal. I'm sorry I don't have dinner ready for you though." Booth stood up and stretched his back. He was feeling good.

"That's okay because I bought you a treat before I came home." Brennan pulled out a small New York Steak and showed him. "Why don't you go and take a shower and I'll have it ready by the time you come back."

"If the Doc says it's okay for me to go out in public I want to take you out for our first date this Friday."

"Why Mr. Booth, so soon. We just met 5 years ago." Brennan said with a smile and fanning herself like a southern bell.

"If you think that it is too soon Ms. Brennan we can postpone it until a more appropriate time."

"Don't you dare. Now get in there and take your shower. Because frankly Mr. Booth, you smell."

With that said Booth went running into the bathroom.

When he came back out he had a fresh pair of jeans on along with a dark green t-shirt and a pair of green and red striped sox on. As soon as he entered the living room he sniffed the air. "Ahhhh, that is the most delightful smell I have ever smelled. Steak cooked medium rare just like I like it." He sat down at the table and poured himself and Brennan a glass of wine. Brennan came in with their dinner and placed the steak in front of Booth along with brown rice, string beans and broccoli. For herself she had just the rice, string beans, broccoli and a large salad.

As usual, when Brennan served Booth steak, he cut it up in small pieces and savored each piece. This, of course, was all a show he put on for Brennan since Sweets had been bringing over steaks from the diner twice a week.

When they were half way through dinner Brennan finally spoke up. What she said almost made Booth fall off his chair. "You can stop the act Booth, I know someone has been bringing you steak dinners twice a week."

Booth choked on the piece of steak he was chewing on. Brennan had to slap him on the back several times to get him to cough up the piece of meat. When he regained his composure he asked her, "How did you know?"

"Come now Booth, did you honestly think I wouldn't smell the cooked meat in my own apartment? After all I am a Vegetarian and the smell of cooked steak lingers on everything."

"Are you mad at me?" Booth asked like a little boy.

"No, I realize that you are a meat eater and this has been very hard on you. You've also been working out hard so those calories you're consuming can only help you. Of course it doesn't do anything for your arteries but once in a while doesn't hurt you. But let's keep it down to only once in awhile okay? I want to keep you with me as long as possible." Brennan leaned over then and kissed him.

When they pulled apart Booth said "I hope you've been doing your own exercises Bones. Especially the treadmill so you can build up your endurance. Because when I'm given the okay from Dr. Clark I am going to take you on a marathon cruise called Seeley Booth and it is going to be the ride of your life." He kissed her again and again until Brennan finally stood up and took her own plate into the kitchen. Booth finished his steak and took his plate into the kitchen also.

"Go sit down Bones and I'll clean up in here."

"That sounds good to me. I am a little tired." She took off her apron and put it around Booth. She tied it around his waist by standing in the front of him and reaching to his back. When she was done she reached down to his cheeks and squeezed them with her hands as she grabbed a kiss also. When she pulled her lips away from his she said "These are becoming nice and firm just like I like them." She slapped his behind as she walked away and went and sat on the couch. He snapped the towel at her behind as she escaped to the living room.

On Thursday afternoon Brennan let Cam know that she was taking Booth to see Dr. Clark and wouldn't be back until Friday.

Since Booth was going out to the Doctors office he took his mask and a pair of gloves with him. Before he got out of the SUV he put them on. He looked at Brennan. "I hope he tells me I can take this off today." They got out then and went inside. Booth was feeling so good these days that he went over to the receptionists window and let them know who he was.

Twenty minutes later the nurse opened the door to the back and called Booth in. As usual she took them into an examination room after weighing him. She took several blood samples then took them over to Dr. Clarks office where they waited for several minutes before he came in.

When Dr. Clark came in he sat down and checked through Booths records. "Well Special Agent Seeley Booth you can take off that mask and I am releasing you to go back to work at the FBI. Desk work only though." Booth took off the mask and tore it into shreds then threw it into the trash can.

Booth stood up and shook Dr. Clarks hand then turned to Brennan and hugged her so tight that she had to tell him to loosen his hold on her. He loosened his grip on her without letting go. Booth turned to Dr. Clark. "Is it a go for "EVERYTHING"?"

Dr. Clark smiled at him. "Yes, it's a go for everything."

Booth gave Brennan a long and passionate kiss then. He had been waiting for this for 3 months and he wasn't going to do an inadequate job with this first passionate kiss.

Dr. Clark finally had to clear his throat to get their attention. Booth let Brennan go. Her face was red as she looked at Dr. Clark.

"I am going to send your records over to Dr. Trent. I know that you will probably have to go through some vigorous testing before they let you go out into the field again so keep up your exercises." Dr. Clark stood up again and shook Booth's and Brennan's hands again and said "Stop at the receptionist and make an appointment for 6 months from now. Now get out of here because I have sick people to treat." Booth and Brennan left then.

When they got outside Booth picked up Brennan and swung her around and around the parking lot. "What do you want to do first?" Brennan asked.

"I want to go and see Cullen and let him know that I have been released to go back to work on Monday. Then I want to go to the Jeffersonian and let them know the good news. I am sure that they will be happy to know that we will all be going back to work solving murders in a couple of weeks. First though I want to go to church and give Him my thanks for returning my health." Booth held out his hand. Brennan knew exactly what he wanted and she was happy to hand them over. She reached in her coat pocket and pulled out the keys to his SUV. They both got in and he started up the engine. He turned to her and gave her a smile then put it in gear and took off. This was going to be the first time that Booth was going to drive his SUV in 3 months.

Booth drove to the church first. Brennan went in with him and followed him up to the statue of the Sacred Heart. She stood by and watched him light several candles and put a donation in the basket in front of the candle stand. What happened next made Booth cry silent tears.

He watched as Brennan searched her purse and pull out her wallet. She pulled out several dollars as she had seen Booth do and placed them into the basket. She carefully took the stick that was used to light the candles and picked up a flame from one that already had a flame and lit several candles. When she was done she forced the tip of the stick into the sand where she had found it.

Brennan went over and sat next to Booth and although she didn't kneel she never the less closed her eyes and gave a silent prayer of thanks.

After 10 minutes of kneeling Booth sat down and looked at Brennan. He noticed that she was looking up at the Alter and the cross. He took her hand in his.

"Do you believe now that there is a God?"

"I can't say that I believe 100 percent that there is a God, but I do believe more in the possibility that there is a Supreme Being that can help us when we ask. Do you understand what I am trying to say Booth?"

Booth lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. "Yes, I understand. For you this is a major leap into the realm of what is known as pure faith. Do you know where the phrase Doubting Thomas came from?"

"He was one of the Twelve Apostles, wasn't he?"

"Yes, he was the one that joined the Apostles after Christ died on the cross. He told the others that he would not believe that Christ had risen from the dead until he could see and touch the wounds in His hands and side. When Christ appeared to the Apostles he stood before Thomas and stretched out his hands and told Thomas 'Touch my wounds and believe'. When Thomas touched Christ's wounds he immediately believed that Christ did rise from the dead as He had foretold. Christ then said 'Blessed are those that have not seen and yet believe'. Christ answering my prayers that I get through my journey into the valley of the shadow of death was proof to you that Christ does exist. God has given you proof of his existence now traveling the rest of the road is up to you. I have faith that with Fr. Brisbane's help you will complete your journey. If there is anyone that can get you to accept the existence of God it is Fr. Brisbane."

"Why do you think I am accepting his words better than I accept your words to me about it?"

"You accept his words better because you consider him an equal, if not your superior, in the IQ department."

"I guess you're right. Let's go, I'm getting hungry. I'll call Cam and ask her to bring everyone over for lunch at the Diner."

Booth and Brennan left then. Brennan called Cam, when she got off of the phone she said "Cam said they would meet us at the Diner in 15 minutes."

When they arrived at the Diner Booth asked the waitress to sit them at the largest booth that they had which he knew was in the opposite corner from where they usually sat and away from the mainstream of the dinner. Shortly after sitting down the rest of the Medico-Lab came in the door. Brennan waved at them to join them at the booth.

They immediately noticed that Booth wasn't wearing a mask. Angela went to Booth, who was standing next to the table. "Congratulations Booth. We knew you could do it." She hugged him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. When she let go and sat down by Brennan Cam came up to him and hugged him also. He sat down then and Cam sat next to him while Hodgins sat down next to Angela. Hodgins just shook Booths hand and congratulated him.

The waitress came over when she saw that everyone had sat down. Everyone ordered their usual and the waitress left to get their orders. While they waited for the food to come they told Booth all about what had happened with the temporary FBI agent they had been working with and Dr. Brennan's temporary replacement.

When the food came they all watched Booth when his food was placed in front of him. Brennan just shook her head at what he had ordered. "I can see all of my hard work is going to be going down the tubes now that I won't be controlling what you eat."

Booth smiled at her and took a big bite out of the bacon cheese burger he had ordered. He had put so much ketchup on the hamburger that he had it all over his mouth. He just looked at Brennan. She saw the twinkle in his eye.

"No, don't you dare." Brennan leaned closer to Angela.

Booth put his hand around her neck and pulled her closer to him and planted a big sloppy kiss on her mouth. He moved his lips around hers to make sure he shared all of the ketchup.

"Yuck!" Brennan said as he pulled away.

Booth threw up his arms and said loudly "I have thrown off the bonds of chains." Everyone in the restaurant heard him and clapped. He turned red in embarrassment and put his head down as he wiped his mouth. Brennan was wiping the ketchup and grease of the hamburger off of her mouth also.

"Is that the first meat you've had since you've been cleared for a more normal diet Booth?" Hodgins asked. He hadn't seen Booth since the first week when he had started his chemotherapy.

"Don't let him fool you. I've been feeding him lots of red meat. Even when he was going through the chemotherapy I was giving him meat. At least as much as his stomach could hold. Since his stomach was small from going without eating for 4 days he couldn't eat very much at one time. I was feeding him every 4 or 5 hours when he could eat and keep food down. When he was declared cancer free he even got Sweets to bring him steaks twice a week when I went back to work."

Booth put his head down and put the napkin over his face. He pretended to be crying. "I'm sorry Bones, I know I owe you so much for taking care of me when I was so sick." Booth lifted the napkin a little and winked at Cam. "I'm sorry for acting so ungrateful for all that you've done for me." Booth wiped his eyes and blew his nose then put his face close to Bones face. "Do you forgive me for acting so ungrateful?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it. I'll let you know after our date tomorrow." Brennan smiled at him.

"A date, you're going out on your first date tomorrow night?" Angela asked.

"Yes Booth said that he would take me out on our first date this Friday." Brennan told Angela.

"Where are you going? What are you going to wear? I have to come and help you pick something out tonight." Angela asked excitedly.

"I don't know he hasn't told me yet."

"I have a place in mind but I haven't called yet to see if I can get reservations. As soon as I do I'll let you know where we're going." Booth said in between bites of his cheeseburger. He had only eaten half of it when he pushed his plate away. "I'm stuffed already. It's going to take me a while to get used to eating only two or three meals a day again."

Booth pulled out his cell phone and called Cullen's office. "Hi Janet, this is Special Agent Seeley Booth is Director Cullen in and is he free? ………………….Okay, when he gets off of the phone would you tell him that I will be over in 30 minutes to talk to him………………Thanks."

"You're going to tell him you've been released for desk duty by Dr. Clark?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah, his secretary said that he just came back from lunch and that he'll be free for the next hour."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Brennan asked.

"No, not this time. If you want to you can go back to work and I'll pick you up at 5:30 tonight? I'll probably have to go to HR and fill out papers."

"Okay, that sounds good to me. I have a skeleton from WWII I would like to get back to. I'll see you at 5:30 then." Brennan said as she finished off her salad.

Cam let Booth out and he said goodbye to everyone and left to go to FBI HQ. When he got to Cullen's office he went to Cullen's secretary first. "Hi Janet, is he busy?"

"No you can go in now." Janet said. Janet was a tall woman about 5'9" with long red hair that went down to her waist when she wore it down. Booth figured she was about 35. None of the men bothered her though because she would always just flash her wedding ring if they sounded too interested.

Booth knocked on Cullen's door and waited for the reply of "Come in."

Cullen got up and greeted Booth with a handshake and directed him into one of the chairs that was in front of his desk while he took the other.

"How are you doing Booth?"

"A lot better than I was the last time you saw me. Today I was given the good news that I could come back to work next week, but only desk duty for the next two weeks. Then I have to take one day when they'll put me through a bunch of tests to see if I'm fit for field duty."

"So that means that your cancer free now?"

"Yes Sir. They gave me that good news 5 weeks ago. For the last 5 weeks we've been working on getting my white and red blood cell count back up to normal. Bones has been working on getting my weight back up to normal while I've been working out a lot to get back into tip top shape again."

"What has she been doing to get your weight back to normal?"

"She had me on a schedule of 4 small meals a day. While I was going through the chemotherapy, and able to eat on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, she had me eating high caloric meals. She was even giving me these milk shakes that she spiked with vitamins."

"Why high calorie meals for only 3 days?"

"Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were the only days I could eat anything without it coming back up. When I agreed to the accelerated treatments the dietitian told Bones that her main goal in feeding me was to try and keep my weight on. She told her to forget all about what was good for me and what wasn't. As you know though I still lost over 30 pounds by the end of it."

"Well I am very happy for you Booth. It took a lot of guts to do what you did. Sweets told me Brennan had to call him to come and see you because she was afraid you were going into a deep depression towards the end."

"Yeah, just before the 5th treatment I was so tired of being sick that I didn't care if I lived or died. The next day Sweets showed up. I figured that Bones had called him. It turns out though that I was so near the edge that all he had to do was ask how I was doing in my head since he could plainly see how I was doing physically. It was the first time that I have ever cried like I did then. I mean I cried so hard that I was shaking. When I was able to get myself under control Sweets just told me that it was okay to cry. He said I had been under so much pressure physically and mentally that my crying was like a release valve that had to open, at least a little, to release the tremendous amount of pressure I was under."

"Yes, Sweets told me about that. When I asked him if he thought you would be okay when you came back to work he answered, without hesitation, that you would be just fine and that it would be good for you to get back to work. So you need to go to HR now and they'll have papers for you to fill out. I'll be on vacation when you get back and I'll be gone for 2 weeks. I am going to leave work for you in your office that will keep you busy for the next 2 weeks. Janet will give you instructions on what to do. If you have any problems just go to Janet. She may come to you once in awhile to make a decision or two on a few problems." Cullen got up then shook Booth's hand. It was a signal to Booth that their discussion was over and Cullen had to get back to work.

Booth hesitated and it was evident that he had something more to say. "Is there something else you wanted to tell me?" Cullen asked as he sat behind his desk again.

"Sir, I just wanted to thank you for helping Bones with me. I was to out of it to remember what happened the night she had to call you and your wife to come over and help her, but she told me all about it the next day."

"You're welcome Booth. We were glad to help."

Booth left then and went straight to HR.

At 5:30 that evening he was at the Jeffersonian as he had promised Brennan. He went into her office to wait for her after letting her know he was there. He was expecting Brennan to come in when he heard footsteps. He was surprised to see Hodgins come over and sit in front of him at the coffee table.

"Hi Booth." Hodgins said in greeting.

"Hodgins." Booth said in acknowledgement.

Hodgins held up a ring of keys and a map in front of him. "I want you to take these Booth. This is a key to a cabin I have in the mountains and a map to that cabin. I want you and Dr. Brennan to spend the weekend there. I've called the couple that takes care of it for me to get it ready for occupation for the next 3 days. It has snowed up there already so it will be beautiful up there. Best of all Booth you two can be alone. There are no phones up there but there is a satellite for TV. There is a small town close by if you need anything. Angela is talking to Dr. Brennan right now so she'll know about it. If you want I can have the woman prepare something light for you guys to eat. I am sure that you won't want anything heavy on your stomachs." Hodgins said with a grin.

Booth just looked at the keys for a minute. He took the keys and map from him then. "Thanks Hodgins. It will be the first time that we can be together as a couple. Do I need to take anything to drink up there?"

"No there is a fully stocked bar along with bottles of wine and beer in the basement. Feel free to use the Master Suite along with the whirlpool bath." Booth and Hodgins stood up then and Booth thanked him again.

"I guess I don't have to make a reservation anymore."

"No, I think this will handle all of your needs. I'll see you next week. I'll expect to see her coming back to work with a big grin on her face and a little tired." Hodgins said as he patted Booth on the arm then walked out.

Booth just smiled at him and just put the keys in his pocket and the map in his inside jacket pocket. He sat back down again and pulled out the map to the cabin and checked it out to see how long it would take them to get there. He figured it would take them a good 3 hours which meant that they would have to leave by at least 3 o'clock. As he was folding up the map again Brennan came in.

"Are you ready to go?" Booth asked as he stood up.

"Yes, I just need to get my purse and coat."

Booth put his own coat on and waited for her at the door. When they went out into the main area they could see that everyone else had left for the day. When they climbed into the SUV Booth hesitated in starting the engine.

"What's wrong?" Brennan asked.

Booth turned around and looked at her. "I packed my things at your apartment and they're in the back. I am going to move back to my apartment tonight Bones. I don't want us to get carried away tonight so the only thing that will make us keep our hands to ourselves until tomorrow is for me to go back to my apartment. Tomorrow I'll pick you up at 2:30 so we can get out of DC before the heavy traffic starts. Okay?" Since Angela had talked to Brennan about the cabin she knew what he was talking about.

"Okay Booth, if that's what you want. Get lots of rest tonight though because I don't think we'll be getting any tomorrow night until late in the evening." Brennan said as she looked at him with a smile and that tell tale twinkle in her eyes.

Booth started up the engine and left the Jeffersonian parking lot. He concentrated on his driving and didn't look at her again. He wanted her so badly and he was having a hard time controlling his body's reaction to her closeness.

Brennan knew Booth too well. She moved closer to him. She slowly put her hand on his leg and immediately felt him flinch.

"Please Bones don't do that. You're going to make me lose control of the vehicle then we'll get in an accident and have to wait again. Now move back over to your own side." Brennan did as he requested.

"I'm sorry Booth, I won't tease you anymore."

They were silent the rest of the ride to her apartment. When they arrived at the underground parking lot Booth got out and escorted her to her door. Brennan got out her key and opened the door but Booth didn't make a move to enter it. Instead he pulled her over to him and pressed her against the wall of the outside hallway and kissed her long and hard. When he pulled away he put his lips close to her ear and said "Don't pack any toys Bones. I promise you that you won't need them." Booth just smiled and left. Brennan knew that he was referring to the comment she had made when he had gone for his first chemotherapy.

TBC………………


	9. Chapter 9

I received some critical reviews about this chapter so I made some changes. Even though you might have read it once before please read it again and let me know if it looks better.

Special Note: Please don't review when you are having a bad day. Authors have delicate ego's that are bruised easily. Constructive criticism is welcomed but not criticism delivered with a "Cat of Nine Tails" whip.

Chapter 9

At exactly 2:30 in the afternoon Booth was knocking at Brennan's door. It took her a minute to get to the door. Booth could hear her running on the other side. She opened the door "I'm coming, I'm coming." She exited her apartment pulling a suitcase behind her. Booth took it from her and waited while she locked the door. As they waited at the elevator Brennan noticed Booth's leg shaking. She didn't say anything, she just smiled to herself. Within 10 minutes her things were in the back of Booth's SUV and they were pulling out of the garage. All through the ride Brennan kept her distance. She thought if she made any move towards him at all that he would explode.

As they drove into the mountains Brennan was reading the map and giving Booth directions. They both kept the conversation light, neither one wanted to let the conversations center on the coming weekend getaway. At least now Booth's leg would have something to do besides shaking. Brennan had to fight to keep control of herself several times. When she would think of Booths condition she would start to laugh.

At exactly 6 o'clock Booth pulled into the driveway of a log cabin. They got their luggage out of the back of the SUV and went to the front of the cabin. They couldn't see too well in the dark but as they approached the large front porch lights went on. The front door opened and a woman that appeared to be in her mid 50's had opened the door.

"Hello, may I help you."

"Yes, I'm Temperance Brennan and this is Seeley Booth. I believe you are expecting us."

"Yes, yes please come in. Dr. Hodgins called me yesterday. My name is Mary Connor. Please, just leave your luggage right here and I'll show you around the cabin. I'm sorry that I have to rush showing you the cabin but my husband will be here in a few minutes to pick me up."

For the next 20 minutes Mary Connor showed them around the cabin and how to work everything. The cabin was fully electric and had all of the modern conveniences including a large whirlpool bath and a shower in the master suite that was big enough for two people. There was a fireplace in both the living room and the master suite even though the cabin had central heating and air. Both fireplaces were lit and several pieces of wood were neatly stacked on the side. She showed them the kitchen with all of its modern conveniences. Booth gave a low whistle when he saw the large kitchen. It had a large double door refrigerator, glass top stove, with a gas grill set to the side. Below the island in the center of the kitchen there was a wine rack with 10 bottles of wine. One whole side of the kitchen was set up with built in cabinets for all dishes and glasses.

"Dr. Hodgins didn't know what you liked to eat so I just made up two salads. In this bowl you will find some cleaned shrimp that you can warm up or prepare in any way you wish. There is tea in this container and coffee in this one. Everything else that you may need is in this cabinet above the coffee maker." Mrs. Connor said as she showed them where everything was and how to work all of the appliances. Just as she finished they heard a car in the front honking its horn. "That's my husband. If you need my help just give me a call. My phone number is by the phone over here. You also have all emergency phone numbers over here."

Booth followed Mrs. Connor to the front door and they said goodnight to each other. He walked out to the front porch and waited until she got into the car with her husband then went inside and locked the door and turned the lights out. He took their luggage to the Master Suite than went into the kitchen where he found Brennan setting the table. Now that Mrs. Connor was gone Booth could take care of business and right now the only business on his agenda was Temperance Brennan.

When Booth walked into the kitchen he saw that Brennan had already taken out the bowl of salad but Booth just put it back in the refrigerator, turned the stove off where she had a pan of water boiling and turned the kitchen lights off.

"What are you doing? I don't know about you but I'm hungry." Brennan said.

Booth walked over to her and just put his arm under her legs and picked her up. He quickly carried her over to the Master Suite and put her down by the bed. "I'm hungry also but not for food." Brennan smiled at him.

By the light of the fire he gazed at her and gently put his hands around her face and kissed her. He went slowly because he wanted to make this night, there first night together, not as partners but just as a man and woman, memorable. As his lips met hers his hands started to remove her clothes. When she was able to her hands removed his clothes. After he removed her blouse and bra he started on her jeans. He pulled her jeans and panties down as far as he could then got on his knees while she put her hand on his shoulder, and he pulled her shoes and then her pants off all of the way as she stepped out of them.

Brennan didn't go as fast as Booth did instead she took her time. She wanted to look at and touch his body. She wanted to feel the healthy flesh that now covered his well muscled chest and arms. As they kissed again and he ran his hands over her back and down to her hips Brennan ran her hands over the now clearly defined stomach muscles. Booth had pushed his own shoes off and reached for the big red belt buckle but Brennan wanted to do it so she pushed his hands away and unbuckled his famous belt buckle. His pants were the next to go. Before removing them though she ran her hands over the front of his pants. She could feel how ready he was for her. She quickly unbuttoned his pants and pulled the zipper down then she ran her hands over his hips and then around him where she lightly squeezed his buttocks. As she did that she felt his body already responding with more intensity. She pushed his clothes down further and let her hand grab onto his erection. She heard him moan into her mouth where his tongue was busily trying to wrap itself around hers.

Brennan pulled away and pushed him down on the bed so she could remove his pants and shorts. The last of his clothing to go was his crazy socks. She reached for his hand and pulled him up. "Let's pull down the quilt, blanket and cover sheet." She went to the other side of the large king size bed with the large leather headboard and pulled everything down while Booth did his side. They both got onto the bed then and met at the middle. Their love making was intense. Both were hungry for each other and their hunger would not wait.

Booth pushed Brennan down on the bed and proceeded to kiss her neck and ears. He had watched her so many times as she worked and Brennan would often have to say his name twice before she could get a response from him. Now though he didn't use his eyes to examine her body, he used his hands and mouth to touch and explore every inch of her. As he started to kiss and tug at her breasts with his mouth she started to raise her hips up to him just as though he was inside of her already. He knew she was ready for him but his mouth lingered at her breasts while one of his hands wound its way down between her legs and found her center. He skillfully played with her so much that Brennan couldn't help it and a powerful orgasm took control of her mind and body. She shuddered with the strength of the orgasm and called out his name over and over again until the last wave came over her and left her panting for air.

Booth didn't waste any time in bringing her to a second orgasm. This time he was going to get what he wanted. He put his arms under her legs and raised her so he could more easily enter her. Brennan grabbed onto his erection and guided him into her. He pushed himself into her with one swift thrust and let go of her legs. Brennan wrapped her legs around his hips and held onto him as he started to thrust himself into her over and over again. He wanted to give her another orgasm but he couldn't hold back any longer. He started to pump her faster and Brennan's body responded to him.

After they both climaxed and Booth rolled off of Brennan they just laid there while they regained their breath. "You were right Booth, I didn't need any toys." Brennan said as she lay beside him. He laughed at her comment.

When she felt his breathing slow down to normal she rolled over on top of him and straddled him. She ran her hands up and over his shoulders and arms then down his chest and over his stomach. Her fingers traveled back up to his shoulder where she had felt the scar from the bullet he had taken for her. She bent over and kissed it gently. "Does it hurt anymore?"

"Just when the weather gets cold, then I feel a dull ache in my shoulder." He reached for his shoulder and rubbed it. Brennan put her hands on his shoulder and started to massage it gently. After five minutes she stopped.

"How does it feel now?"

"Better, much, much better. I have another sore muscle right in front of my right hip where I was stabbed while I was in the Army."

Brennan smiled at him. She knew what he was doing but played along anyway. She scooted down his legs more and put her hands on the front of his hip and began to massage it. As she massaged his hip he let out a soft moan. She saw him starting to get hard again.

"How's that?" Brennan asked.

"A little more to my left." Brennan put her hands on his erection and started to rub it up and down. Booth's next words were "Bingo. That's right on the spot." For the next fifteen or twenty minutes Brennan showed him how good a lover she was also.

When she was done she lay down beside him again. When he could talk he said "That was a lot better than what you did at the sperm bank and that was good." Brennan laughed at his remark. After a while she heard his breathing slow down and she could see that he was sleeping. She reached down and pulled up the sheet, blanket and quilt. Before she went to sleep herself she went over to the fireplace and put on a couple more logs than crawled into bed next to him. They both slept an exhausted, restful, quiet sleep until the next morning.

At 8 AM Booth woke up to the sound of something touching the bedroom window. He turned to look for his playmate. Brennan was turned towards him, but she was still sleeping. Her hair was covering her face so he carefully pulled it back with one finger. He had gazed at her face many times before but always for just a few seconds before she would notice him staring at her and ask what was wrong. Of course he would always come up with some lame excuse. Now though he could look at the contours of her face, her lips that he now found so sweet and above all her beautiful, almost alabaster skin. He could look to his hearts content in this hideaway in the mountains. For two days there would be no calls from the FBI or the Jeffersonian to bother them. They could use these days to come to know each other as intimately as two people could know each other without becoming one being. 'I wish I could ask her to marry me but I know that she doesn't believe in marriage. But then again she is finally looking into the possibility that God does exist and if that can happen then maybe she could accept our marriage one day.' Booth thought to himself.

Booth raised his head a little and looked over her shoulder and at the window. Right by the bedroom window and looking in was a large deer. He couldn't tell if it was a doe or buck because it didn't have any antlers. He whispered in her ear. "Bones, wake up." She opened her eyes.

"What's the matter?"

"We have a visitor. Turn real slow and look out the window." Brennan did as he said and looked out the window. The deer looked straight at her then started to lick the condensation on the window. After a few minutes it turned back to its primary task of looking for green grass to eat and started to walk away.

"It was so beautiful. That's the first time I've ever seen one so close and in the wild." Brennan said as she rubbed her eyes then sat up. The sheet fell down and Booth got a good look at her breasts. He wanted to touch them again but for now he had to ignore what his hands wanted to do because right now his bladder was urging him to get up and go to the bathroom. He decided to take a shower while he was in there. He was kind of sore from the workout he had last night. He hadn't used certain muscles in a long time and they were sore. He let the hot water run over him and as he felt them loosen up he stretched while leaning against the shower walls.

His thoughts started to wander to last night. As he remembered the feel of her body against his and the feel of her sweet lips he found himself starting to get an erection again. He looked down at himself and said "What am I going to do with you when you start getting excited when where in the field and my mind starts wandering while she's examining the bones of victims?" Since his buddy didn't answer back he turned the hot water down and let the cold water cool him "down".

When he came out of the bathroom he found Brennan still in bed and asleep so he crawled back into bed carefully. He reached under the covers and his hand found the bare skin of her back. Very lightly he ran his fingers up and down her back. All of a sudden Brennan jumped up off of the bed and rubbed at her back repeatedly.

"What's the matter? I was just running my hand up and down your back." Booth said as he sat up against the headboard.

"I was dreaming of Zack pouring a container load of beetles into a tank with a skeleton in it and a bunch of them had somehow gotten onto my back and were crawling on me."

"I'm sorry." Booth said. He pulled back the sheets and blankets to show her that there were no bugs on the bed. Brennan rubbed her eyes and pushed back her hair to get an unobstructed view of the bed. She looked on the floor also to make sure there was nothing there also.

She looked up at him and asked "Did you leave any hot water for me?"

"The hot water is supplied by an instant water heater that's in the cabinet between the shower and the whirlpool bath. You better get in there before I start getting all hot again from looking at you with the light from the window behind you showing every curve." When Booth said that she realized that she didn't have anything on and it was cold in the room.

Thirty minutes later Brennan came out of the bathroom. She had taken a shower and blow dried her hair. She noticed how nice and warm the room was when she came out. She looked at the fireplace and noticed that Booth had put some more logs on the fire and it had flared back to life. She put her suitcase up on the bed and pulled out a warm pair of gray sweat pants and a blue flannel shirt and some thick socks. She didn't bother with under clothes since it was just Booth and her.

When she was dressing she could smell freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen. She walked out to the living room and found Booth standing by a large scenic window that overlooked the lake. He didn't have a stitch on and this time Brennan got a good look at him.

"Aren't you cold?" Brennan asked as she went into the kitchen and got her own cup of coffee.

"No, it's not too bad. I put more logs on the fireplace. Besides I didn't want to bother with any clothes in case you wanted a morning workout." Booth raised his eyebrows a couple of times as he smiled at her and put his coffee cup down on the counter. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her ear.

"Eww, go take a shower and shave, your beard is scratching my skin."

"I wouldn't want to do that, your skin is too beautiful for me to want to scratch it." He gave her a kiss then picked up his coffee cup again and started walking back to the bedroom. He could feel her eyes on his back but he kept walking.

"That man is too much I'm going to have a hell of a time keeping my mind on my work when we're out in the field." Brennan said out loud. She noticed that he had started some potatoes cooking along with a slice of ham so she checked on them. While Booth was taking a shower and shaving she finished preparing their breakfast and had it all out on the table by the time he came back out again. He was dressed in pretty much the same thing as she was. They were both hungry since they hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday.

Brennan had cut up some fruit to go along with the rest and that made up most of her breakfast. As they sat eating their breakfast Booth asked her "What shall we do today?"

"Let's go into town. Angela said that there is a small town about 5 miles from here with lots of quaint little shops. She said that they have one shop that has sports memorabilia."

"That's for me. You never know what you might find in these out of the way places." Booth said as he finished off his breakfast. He picked up his coffee cup and a slice of toast and walked out to the front porch. "Let's sit out here for awhile before we clean up the kitchen." She picked up her coffee cup also and followed him outside. They sat on a swinging bench together. Brennan curled her legs up underneath herself and let Booth use his long legs to keep them in motion.

As they sat looking out over the lake Booth spotted something going through the water creating a V shape behind it. "Look at the lake; I think it's a beaver." Brennan stood up and looked. She had never seen a real beaver before and she couldn't see it now since it was so far away, but just knowing that it was a wild beaver got her excited. When she could no longer see the trail in the water that the beaver left she sat back down and leaned against Booth.

"I've never been out in the mountains like this. I've always had my nose in books and the closest I've ever come to a deer or a beaver was in a zoo." Brennan sat up and looked at Booth. "I've seen and done more things in the 5 years that I've known you than I have in all of my previous years. It's like you've opened the world to me Booth. Thank you." She reached over and kissed him. When she pulled away he could see tears coming down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?"

"I guess it's because I am so happy. I've been alone for so long. I've always been afraid to love anyone and let them into my heart. Fr. Brisbane says that is probably why I refuse to believe in God. He says that I have had to struggle for so long by myself, and been hurt by people that said they loved me, that I won't allow myself to let anyone into my heart. I guess that's why I choose not to leave with Sully. I was in love with you Booth but I just didn't want to admit to myself that my feelings for you were weakening the wall that I had set up around my heart.

Brennan started crying and Booth set his coffee cup down on the floor and pulled her into his arms.

"Now that I have let you come into my heart Booth, promise me that you will never leave me."

"I can't do that Bones. I can't promise you that I will never leave you just as you can't promise me that you'll never leave me. Either you or I could die from a bullet or just by walking across the street. I won't hold it against you if something should take you from me and I don't want you to blame me or God if I should be taken from your side. It's just life Bones and the very nature of our work makes life dangerous for both of us. It won't be my fault and it won't be your fault when we leave this world." He held her closer to his chest then. "I promise to love you forever though and I promise to do my very best to always stay by your side." She put her arms around him and held on tightly. He kissed her and continued to rock them back and forth on the swing.

Later in the afternoon they went into town and walked up and down the streets and looked into every little shop. They had lunch at a small Mom & Pop restaurant. In the restaurant there was a young couple with a small boy that couldn't have been more than 3 years old. Since there wasn't anyone else in the restaurant, other than Booth and Brennan, they let their son walk around. He spotted Booths gun that he always wore in his belt so he walked up to him.

"Is that a gun mister?"

"Yes it is." Booth answered.

"Are you a bad man or are you a cop?"

"I work for the FBI so I guess you could call me a cop."

"Can I touch it?"

"No, guns are not toys so you should never touch one unless your Daddy or Mommy is standing by you. Okay?"

"Okay mister. Bye." The little boy went running back to his Mother and Father that were getting up to leave now.

"He's cute. Children are so innocent." Brennan said.

Booth looked at her for a moment and took her hand in his. "Bones, do you want children with me?"

She didn't answer right away. He could tell that she was thinking about her answer. "Yes, I think I am ready now. Ever since we had Andy with us I've been thinking about having a baby of my own. At first I thought that maybe I wouldn't be a good mother because I was so consumed with my work, but then the thought came into my mind that my baby would become the center of my universe and I would apply myself to that new universe just as much as I did my work."

He held her hand and said in a low voice "Who knows maybe we got lucky this weekend."

"Not the right time buddy. I just had my period last week so I won't be fertile for another week or two."

"The thought of using protection didn't even enter my mind last night. My mind was on one thing last night and one thing only." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. He got up then and they left to return to the cabin.

They spent the rest of the afternoon making love on the floor in front of the fireplace in the living room. Brennan had put a blanket on the floor and brought out two pillows. When they were tired they would just pull the large blanket over themselves and sleep in each other's arms.

Sunday morning Booth woke up early and put his jogging clothes on and woke up Brennan. "Wake up sleepy head."

Brennan opened one eye and squinted at Booth. When she realized that he had his jogging clothes on she closed her eye again. "It's too early in the morning Booth. The sun isn't even up yet."

Booth grabbed the blankets and sheets and pulled them off of her and slapped her bear bottom. "Get up and come jogging with me. By the time we get out there the sun will be coming up over the mountains."

Brennan jumped up and ran after him. As he ran out the front door she slammed it shut then went into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later she was dressed and went into the living room. "Well, let's go old man." Booth put his cup of coffee down and followed Brennan out the front door. For the next hour they ran up and down the hills surrounding the cabin. They met other joggers along the way and a few senior citizens that were taking walks and enjoying the quiet morning, as they were.

By 9 o'clock they were back in the cabin. "I am going to go and soak in that glorious looking whirlpool bath for awhile." Brennan said as she went into the bedroom.

"I'll join you after I make some bagels and coffee." Booth answered.

While Brennan went into the bathroom and started filling the bathtub Booth made a fresh pot of coffee and bagels for himself and Brennan. Fifteen minutes later he brought in two cups of coffee along with four slices of bagel. Brennan was just slipping into the whirlpool bath when he came in. He quickly removed his sweats and climbed in on the opposite side from her. Brennan had found a tray that fit on top of the bathtub and Booth had placed the cups of coffee and the dish with bagels on top of it.

Booth gave out a satisfying moan as he slipped into the whirling water. He sipped some of his coffee and took a bite out of one of his bagels. "I tell you Bones, this is living. I could stay in here for the rest of the day if we didn't have to leave this afternoon."

"You can't do that. If you do your skin will get all pruny and important things might shrink too much." She stretched out her leg and poked his testicles and penis with her toe.

"Yeah well my toys might shrink a little but yours might shrink also and I don't want that to happen." He did the same and poked his toe at one of her breasts.

They sat for a while, drank their coffee and ate their bagels in silence. After awhile Booth broke the silence.

"What are we going to do once we get back Bones?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where are we going to live? Shall we take turns staying at each other's apartment or do we move in together." Booth asked as he gazed out of the large picture window that looked out over the lake. The land at the back of the cabin was steep and the back half of the cabin was on steel pillars so no one could see into the bathroom.

"I thought you just signed a lease for another year." Brennan asked.

"I did so I'm tied into it for another 10 months."

"I signed for a two year lease with an option to buy. So I have another year to go on mine."

Booth was quiet for a few minutes. "Let's say then that we do like Hodgins and Angela do and keep some things at each other's apartment. I get Parker every other week so on the weekends when he is with me well stay at my apartment and when I don't have him well stay at yours. That way we don't have to change anything at your apartment to accommodate him. Plus he has all of his things at my apartment."

"That sounds agreeable. When my lease is up though, I want to buy a house." Brennan said as she watched his face for his reaction.

Booth just smiled at her and removed the tray from the bathtub. He moved over to her side while she spread her legs so he could fit in between them. He held onto her legs and pushed his head back between her breasts and rubbed his head between them. "That sounds like a very good idea to me." He ducked his head below the water so he could get it wet. When he came up Brennan applied a small amount of shampoo and rubbed his head. His hair was just starting to grow back so he had very little to clean. After he bathed himself he sat on the other side and she got between his legs and he did the same for her. After another 10 minutes they got out and went into the bedroom after drying themselves.

Brennan initiated the love making that afternoon. She put her arms around his neck and started to kiss him all over. When she felt his erection rubbing against her stomach she jumped up and threw her legs around his waist. She grabbed onto him and gently guided him into her opening. Booth held onto her legs and walked with her until her back was up against the wall. She slowly started to raise herself up and down on him while he played with her breasts. He sucked on them long and hard and made her let out a soft moan of pleasure. Since the walls were made out of logs Booth took the chance and grabbed onto her legs more securely and started to thrust into her harder and faster. Before long they both climaxed and he collapsed to the floor.

"That was fun. It's a good thing you've been exercising to get your muscles in shape again." Brennan said as they both lay on the floor trying to get their breathing under control. She looked up at the clock and saw that it was 12 noon. She got up and went into the bathroom. He heard her go into the shower for a few minutes. When she came out she started getting dressed again while he was still lying on the floor.

"Why did you take a shower again? You couldn't have been that sweaty."

"I had to clean my insides out Booth. Where do you think all of that seminal fluid goes to? If I don't clean my insides out it seeps out and makes it very uncomfortable for me." Booth sat up.

"You know, I never really thought about it."

"Didn't you ever notice that the other women that you've been with go into the shower for awhile after you've had sex?"

"Yeah but that was usually in the morning I guess when they took a shower. You're the first one that I've had sex with in the middle of the day then had to get dressed to leave. No I take that back. The last time Rebecca and I had sex it was in the middle of the day and she had to leave to pick up Parker."

"Wasn't she in the bathroom a little longer than usual?"

"Yeah she was in there a long time. By the time she came out I was already dressed. I heard her flush the toilet a couple of times but I didn't think much of it at the time."

"Well she was probably cleaning herself."

Booth got up and put his arms around Brennan and kissed her. "I guess now that I'll be living with a woman all of the time I'll have more time to learn all about women."

"Before we leave I want to clean all of your seminal fluid off of the sheets so help me take them off and I'll put them in the washer while you get dressed."

They took the sheets off then and Brennan washed them and the towels from the bathroom while Booth got dressed. Before they left two hours later the cabin was as clean as it was when they arrived.

Booth took it easy on the drive home. He wasn't anxious for the weekend to end. He kept his mind busy by thinking of Parker and how much he missed him. Next week he would get him for the whole weekend. Rebecca had asked him to pick up Parker after school on Friday and drop him off at school on the following Monday. Brennan would spend the weekend with them and then they would go to her apartment on the following Monday.

As they got close to DC he asked her "Do you want to come over to my apartment tonight?"

"No, why don't we go and have dinner at Wong Foo's then you can just drop me off at my place. I can use a good night's sleep. You wore me out Booth. I don't want to go into the Jeffersonian tomorrow walking funny. It's bad enough that Angela will want me to tell her all about our first weekend together as a couple."

Booth laughed at her. "When Hodgins gave me the keys to the cabin he said, and I quote "I want to see Dr. Brennan come walking in with a big grin on her face and a little tired"."

"You're lucky that you won't have to see them until sometime later."

"Believe me when I say I am not looking forward to it."

It was almost 9 o'clock when Booth finally escorted Brennan up to her apartment. Booth gave her a kiss "Are you bringing some things over to my place tomorrow evening?"

"Yes, make sure that you make some room for my things. I suggest that you get some more drawers for me." They kissed one last time then Booth left.

TBC……………..


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next morning at FBI headquarters Booth walked over to his office after receiving everyone's greetings and congratulations at beating his cancer. Of course everyone made a comment about his hair being so short. Except for a lean look about him his short hair was the only reminder of what he had gone through while he was gone. When he walked over where he could see his office he stopped and just looked at what looked like 20 or more boxes of case files. Janet came and stood beside him. "Welcome back Special Agent Booth. Director Cullen wants you to go through all of these files and double check all of the expenses that the Junior agents incurred over the past 6 months. Make sure that they filed all of the appropriate forms. He has also told me that you are the temporary Director while he is gone. That means that all problems will be directed to you." Booth gave her a dirty look. Janet smiled at him, patted him on the back, and returned to her desk. "Well, I guess I have to do something while I'm stuck at my desk." He said to himself. He went into his office and removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. He picked up one of the boxes and put it on his desk and dug in.

Dr. Temperance Brennan walked into the Jeffersonian Medico-Lab. She didn't see anyone so she went directly to her office. Sitting on her couch she found Angela with a big grin on her face.

"Good morning." Brennan said. She went to the coat rack and exchanged her heavy winter coat for her lab coat and put it on.

"You might as well come over here, sit down and spill about your weekend. If you don't you know that I will bug you all day until you do." Angela said as she patted the couch.

Brennan gave a heavy sigh and decided not to fight it. Might as well get it over with or she won't leave me alone. She closed the door to her office first then sat down next to Angela.

Angela was so excited she could hardly contain herself. Brennan finally said "It was amazing. He was amazing. I don't think we stopped to eat more than 4 times during the whole weekend." Angela was so happy for her friend that she hugged her and was crying tears of joy.

"Tell me everything from the time you left DC." Angela said when she finally let her friend go.

Brennan proceeded to tell her everything. Not from the time they left on Friday but from Thursday night when he had walked her to her door. She only had to back track once when she explained Booths remark about not packing any toys. Angela squealed in excitement when she told her.

Outside on the lab platform Cam was looking for Angela and Dr. Brennan when she heard Angela laughing. She approached Hodgins. "What's going on?"

"I am pretty sure that Dr. Brennan is telling Angela all about her weekend with Booth." Hodgins said as he continued to work with his microscope.

"Well I have to break it up because we have a body coming in." Cam started for the stairs when she heard Brennan's office door open. "It's about time you two came out. We have a body coming in Dr. Brennan. It should be arriving in about 45 minutes. Special Agent Carl Brandish will be accompanying the body and he'll have all of the known information on it." Cam continued to look at Brennan after she gave her all of the information.

"Are you okay Dr. Brennan? You look very tired." When Hodgins heard what Cam said he rushed over to the group of women.

"You do look kind of tired Dr. Brennan." Hodgins said as he studied Dr. Brennan's face.

Cam walked around Dr. Brennan then stood back and acted like she was examining her with a careful eye. "Yes, I can see Booth's work in your every movement." Everyone started laughing at Cam's remark.

"All right you two." Brennan was blushing as she smiled at them. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys to the cabin. "Thank you very much for the use of your cabin. It was beautiful up there."

Hodgins took the keys from her and said "Any time Dr. Brennan, any time."

The rest of the week was filled with their processing of the body that had been found in the trunk of an old abandoned car that was fished out of a pond. Booth, at FBI headquarters, was kept busy with the boxes of files that Cullen had left him.

As per their plan Booth moved some of his clothes over to Brennan's apartment on Monday evening. On Thursday evening Brennan packed some of her things so that she could take them to Booth's apartment on Friday evening.

On Friday, while going through his 12th box of files his phone rang. He thought it might be Brennan since she was going with him to pick up Parker.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth speaking."

"Booth, this is Caroline. Judge Bentley wants you, Dr. Hodgins and Angela to join us in his chambers at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Dr. Sweets and Dr. Addy will be there."

"Okay Caroline well be there." After Booth hung up he immediately called Hodgins.

"Dr. Jack Hodgins here."

"Hodgins, this is Booth. Caroline called me and told me to get you and Angela down to the court house by 3 o'clock this afternoon. We'll meet at Judge Bentley's chambers. He's the one that heard Zack's case. Zack and Sweets will be there. I'm pretty sure that it's good news."

"We'll be there." Hodgins hung up and went looking for Angela.

He found her in her office working on giving a face to the latest victim. "I just got off of the phone with Booth. He said that Caroline wants us down at the court house to meet at the Judge's chambers that heard Zack's case at 3 o'clock. He thinks it will be good news."

"I hope so Jack; if he can come back to work here it will make all of us happy, especially Brennan." Angela said. She was quiet for a minute. He could tell she was thinking about a problem.

"What's the matter?"

"Jack, what if Cam won't take him back?"

"She will. I've discussed any misgivings that the Jeffersonian might have about Zack with Caroline. She said that the only problem that she could see is if the attorney for the defendant in a trial tries to make an issue of it. Then we will have to have enough information on Zack to prove that it has no bearing on the case. If we can't convince the Jeffersonian that we've covered all of our bases where Zack is concerned then I'll bring to bear the weight of the Cantilever group. Everything will go okay though because I've been in contact with the CEO in charge of the Jeffersonian."

Angela went to Hodgins and put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Zack is very lucky to have a friend like you."

"Yeah, well I miss him, besides all of these interns that we get never want to play King of the Lab with me. Besides that, if anything ever went wrong with an experiment I could always blame Zack." Hodgins smiled at her and gave her another kiss then went looking for Cam.

Hodgins located Cam and told her that Angela and he were leaving early today to take care of some personnel business.

"Okay, I have to leave early myself." Cam said as she continued to work on the reports she had to turn into the Jeffersonian and the FBI.

At 2 o'clock Angela and Hodgins left to go to the courthouse. Angela had told Brennan that they had personnel business to take care of and she would see her Monday. All Brennan said was okay and that she would see her Monday.

Brennan didn't have a clue as to what was going on. She liked working by herself at the Jeffersonian; she got more done that way. She turned back to her work of examining the bones of the victim on the table without giving it anymore thought.

At 2:45 that afternoon Booth, Angela and Hodgins were outside of the door to the chambers of Judge Joseph Bentley. At 3 o'clock the door opened and Caroline came out. "Come in everyone." She said and Booth, Angela and Hodgins followed her in.

As they entered they saw Dr. Sweets and Zack sitting on one side of the Judge's desk while Caroline sat to their right. Besides the stenographer another man that neither Booth nor Angela knew was also in the room. Hodgins apparently knew him though because the stranger stood up and walked over to Hodgins and shook his hand. The man simply said "Dr. Hodgins it's good to see you again."

"Hi Don, long time no see. I want to thank you for helping us out here I know you're a busy man."

"My pleasure Dr. Hodgins." They both sat down when they heard Judge Bentley clear his throat.

"Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way and since "I am" a busy man lets continue. Dr. Hodgins I know who you are and what you can do for Dr. Addy. If I let Dr. Addy go with you I want to make sure that you understand that what you will basically be for the next 6 years will be his personal Warden. You will be responsible for him 24/7 for the next 6 years. Special Agent Booth here has promised to assist you whenever you need him. Now I want to know what provisions you have made for Dr. Addy to be in your home."

"I've hired a special guard to be with him 24 hours a day. My regular guards have been briefed on Dr. Addy's situation also and will share responsibility for him with his personnel guard. I am also having an 8 foot chain link fence installed wherever there isn't a fence currently installed."

"From what Dr. Sweets tells me Dr. Addy here has a very high IQ but lacks an understanding of the world beyond the Jeffersonian and that is what got him into the trouble he is in now. Mr. Price, are you willing to accept Dr. Addy back as an employee at the Jeffersonian?"

"Yes your Honor. Dr. Zack Addy is an exceptional young man and in looking up all of the cases that he has worked on I have found that he played a big part in helping to solve many of them. He gets along well with his fellow workers and interrelates well with everyone. I have expressed only one concern and that is what kind of problems can we expect from the court system when evidence that Dr. Addy is involved with is challenged by the defense attorneys. Other than that since Dr. Hodgins will provide for any special guards I can't foresee any problems with his return to work and I am sure that everyone will be happy to see him back, especially Dr. Brennan."

"Who is Dr. Brennan?" The Judge asked.

"Dr. Temperance Brennan is our Forensic Anthropologist that heads the team that works with Special Agent Booth to solve crimes and identify bodies with nothing but the bones to work from. Dr. Addy used to be Dr. Brennan's student." Don Price answered.

"Yes I've read Dr. Brennan's books." The judge leaned back in his chair for a few minutes while he thought about all that he had heard. He sat up and looked at Zack.

"I hope you understand how lucky you are to have such friends Dr. Addy, and I hope that you will do your best to live up to their expectations of you. I am going to let you go with Dr. Hodgins under the following stipulations. 1. You must stay with him for the next 6 years. You cannot under any circumstances leave his home or the Jeffersonian without your guard by your side and that means that essentially Dr. Jack Hodgins home and the Jeffersonian are your prison. 2. You will continue to see Dr. Sweets at least once each week for the next 6 years. 3. If you should attempt to leave without your guard you will be sent to a minimum security prison for the rest of your sentence. Do you understand the restrictions that have been placed on you and what will happen if you don't follow the rules that are set down for you?"

"Yes your Honor."

"Okay Dr. Addy I am releasing you into the custody of Dr. Jack Hodgins." The judge stood up then and it was a signal to everyone that the hearing was over.

As they all filed out Angela was the first to go to Zack and hug him. "You've been sorely missed Zack and don't worry because Jack and I will make life as normal as we possibly can for you. Brennan is going to be very happy to see you. Don't be surprised if she starts crying."

The next person to come to him was Hodgins. Hodgins just put his arms around him and unashamedly hugged him like a long lost brother. When they pulled apart they continued to hold hands. "I missed you more than anyone else Hodgins. When I was so lonely in there I knew that you would always be there each week to visit me and it was sometimes the only way that I could bear it."

Zack looked at everyone then and said "Thank you everyone for what you have done for me and I promise to do my best to live up to your expectations."

Booth walked over to Zack and put his arm around his neck and pulled him close to his side. "If you don't Zack and you cause Bones any worry at all you can be sure that I'll be paying you a visit."

As they were about to leave the door to the Judge's office opened. "Agent Booth, may I speak to you for a minute?" Judge Bentley asked. Booth went over to him and the Judge opened the door to admit Booth.

When the Judge closed the door Booth asked "Is there something else sir?"

"Yes there is." Bentley sheepishly held out a book to Booth. Booth could see that it was one Brennan's books. "Would you ask Dr. Brennan to autograph my book for me?"

Booth took the book and said "I am sure that she will be happy to sign it for you or would you like to meet her and ask her to sign it yourself?"

"Yes I think I would like that." Bentley said with a big grin on his face. Booth realized then that he was just like any other fan of Brennan's. Booth took out a pen and piece of paper and wrote Brennan's office phone number on it and gave it to Bentley.

"Here is her office number. I'll let her know that you will be calling. Do you happen to have a business card that I could give her?" Bentley gave him his business card and thanked Booth.

When Booth rejoined the group they all walked out of the court house together. Since the car Hodgins and Angela rode in only had room for two people Zack rode to Hodgins house with Booth.

Booth followed Hodgins to his estate. Hodgins stopped at the gate and waited for a guard to come out and open the gates. The guard recognized his car and just waved them in after opening the gates.

"The gates and fencing are new. When did Hodgins have it put up?" Zack asked.

"Just this past week."

"It's because of me isn't it?" Zack asked.

"Yes Zack, all for you."

The guard waved them in and closed the gate after them. Hodgins let Angela out at the front door then drove to the garages where he parked the car. Booth parked at the front and they followed Angela into the house. Hodgins joined them within a few minutes.

"Zack, this is your home for the next 6 years." Hodgins said. A man as big as Booth came over and stood by Hodgins.

Hodgins made the introductions. "Zack this is Lee Farmer. Lee this is Dr. Zack Addy." Zack extended his hand in greeting. Lee stepped forward and shook his hand.

"Hey Booth." Lee said as he nodded at Booth in greeting. Booth nodded back.

"I have to go Hodgins but before I do Lee and I want to have a few words with Zack in private. You have a room where you work out don't you?"

"Yes I'll show you." Hodgins said as he walked behind the stairs. They went down a long corridor and opened one of the doors that led into a well equipped gymnasium. Booth, Zack and Lee walked in and Lee closed the door behind him.

Hodgins ran back down the hallway to another room. Angela was already in there. It was a surveillance room with a row of monitors on a table. Angela was watching the monitor that had a view of the gym. She turned the volume up when Hodgins joined her. Booth had already told them what he was going to be doing.

They watched as Booth took his coat and shirt off and threw them over a piece of equipment. Lee did the same thing. Both men had well defined muscles that Zack could easily see. Booth went over to the bench that held a bar with weights attached to the ends of the bar.

"What do you usually exercise with?" Lee asked Booth.

"Well I used to do 250 but I'm not back up to that yet. Let's bring it up to 200." Booth said as he pulled off the weights that were on it. He put one large weight on the bar while Lee did the other. He laid down on the bench and Lee went to the top of the bench and helped Booth to lift the bar. Booth let it go to his chest then lifted the bar ten times. When he wanted to put it back on the resting posts Lee helped him lift it up all the way. Booth got up. "What can you do?" He asked Lee.

"About 300." They proceeded to add weights to the bar then Lee lay down and Booth helped him to lift the bar off of the resting supports. He lifted it 10 times then put it back on the resting posts.

Booth and Lee sat down on benches in front of Zack and just looked at him.

"I understand that you did this in front of me so that I would know what you could do to me if I should try anything." Zack said as he looked at the two big men that didn't even break a sweat as they lifted the weights. Booth and Lee got up and put their shirts and jackets back on. Booth went over to Zack and put his arm around his shoulder.

"See, I told you he would catch on real fast Lee." The two men laughed and they all walked back to the entrance. Angela and Hodgins acted like they had been standing there waiting for the men to come back.

"I'm going to leave now Zack." Booth said. He walked up to Zack and put his hands on each shoulder and said "Don't make us regret what we did today Zack."

"I won't Agent Booth." Zack said. Booth slapped him lightly on his cheek then turned and left.

Booth went directly to Brennan's apartment. When he got to her apartment he knocked on her door and waited. Within the next minute she opened the door and walked out pulling a suitcase behind her. Booth gave her a kiss then took the suitcase from her and waited while she locked her door.

"How was your day Bones?"

"Very productive. We finished identifying the body that Special Agent Brandish brought in on Monday. How has your first week back been?" Brennan asked as they waited for the elevator to come to their floor.

They heard the ding of the elevator announcing that it had reached their floor. As they rode the elevator down to the underground parking lot Booth said "Busy, besides going through all of the Junior Agents files I had to deal with several issues that Janet needed my help on."

"How are you feeling? Are you keeping up with your exercises and taking all of your medication and vitamins?"

"Yes, I take them every day at the appointed time. I also work out at the gym for an hour each day and I run at least one mile on the treadmill." Booth reported as they walked to his SUV.

"Very good, but you haven't said how your feeling." Bones said as they got into the SUV and drove towards Rebecca's home. Booth had called her when he had gotten the call from Caroline and let her know that he would pick up Parker as soon as he left the Courthouse.

"I'm a little tired but it's a good tired. You know what I mean?"

"Yes, your glad to be back but your back and buttocks aren't used to sitting in a chair for long periods of time anymore. Maybe your chair will form to your butt after awhile like the father on the Simpsons did. I liked that show and it was very funny even though I know that it's a cartoon and the things they portray aren't real."

"Cartoons are meant to entertain Bones. The very fact that they are cartoons shows that they aren't real." Booth was quiet for a moment. "I think you're starting to have too much influence on my thinking Bones, because I'm starting to sound like you." They both laughed at his comment. They had been partners for so long now that Booth was starting to sound like Bones and Bones sometimes caught herself talking like Booth.

As Booth pulled up in front of Rebecca's house Parker came running out to his father. Booth quickly got out of the SUV and went running to meet his son. Parker practically jumped in his arms. Booth caught him and swung him around and around. Even though Parker was starting to get to big to be carried all of the time Booth and his son were so happy to see each other that he gladly held onto his son and hugged him fiercely. Brennan followed them into the house when Booth waved at her to come in.

Booth finally put his son down when Rebecca greeted him. Booth and Parker were so happy to see each other that they both had to wipe their tears away with the back of their hands. Parker came over to his father, when he finally sat down on the couch. Brennan noticed that Parker was wearing a cap like Booth was and that Parkers curly blond hair wasn't showing.

"Take your hat off Daddy." Booth did as his son said and when he pulled it off Parker took his hat off. They looked at each other and laughed. Parker's hair was just as short as his fathers.

"What happened to you?" Booth asked.

"When you sent a picture of your head after Dr. Bones shaved your hair off I told Mommy I wanted to get my hair shaved off also so that you wouldn't feel bad all by yourself."

Booth hugged his son again. When he let him go he said "Thank you Parker, your right, I don't feel so bad since you look just like me now."

Parker hugged his father again and said "I love you Daddy and I missed you so much."

Booth couldn't help but start crying as he held his son. "I missed you too son." He kissed him then let him go. "Why don't you go get your things so we can go?"

As Parker ran into his bedroom Booth watched him go and said "It seems like he has grown several inches." He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes and blew his nose.

"He has grown several inches. I bought him new clothes at the beginning of the school year and I just had to go and buy him one size larger this week. I hope you're well stalked with food also because he seems to have a bottomless pit for a stomach. I think he is going to be built just like you Booth." Rebecca said.

"You mean he is going to be so handsome that he'll have to beat the girls off with a stick." Booth said with a smile.

"He definitely has your winning charm. Watch out Dr. Brennan or he'll give you one of his smiles to win you over to his way of thinking. Between the two of them you'll be lucky if you come out of this weekend with all of your ribs in place." Rebecca said as she packed her son's books in his back pack that he had to take with him since his father was going to be dropping him off at school on Monday.

Brennan looked at Booth for an explanation of what Rebecca just said. "Why would my ribs be out of place?"

Booth looked at her and smiled. "She means that between Parker and I, we'll have you doing whatever we say. Because when we bat our big brown eyes at you and give you the Booth boys look we will have you twisted around our little fingers so tightly that we might break your ribs."

Bones looked at Rebecca with a serious face. "Thank you for the warning; I will endeavor to keep my guard up."

Parker came back into the living room pulling his little suitcase with him. "Okay Daddy, I'm ready." He went to his mother and gave her a kiss and hug goodbye. Rebecca walked them to the front porch and watched them drive away.

"How does Pizza sound for tonight?" Booth asked as he drove to his apartment.

"Yeah Pizza." Parker yelled.

"That sounds good. We can order salads also." Brennan said.

"Pizza it is then. What have you been doing during the last 4 months Parker?" Booth asked.

"Nothing much, but I have a girlfriend now." Parker said.

"You do? What's her name and what does she look like? Have you kissed her yet?" Booth fired off the questions one right after another.

"Her name is Pamela and she has long, pretty brown hair and she's as tall as me. I kissed her today when I walked her to her house." Parker was blushing when he told them he had kissed Pamela.

"Wow! You're a fast worker. I didn't kiss your Mom until our 2nd date. Where did you kiss her, on her lips or on her cheek?"

"I only kissed her on her cheek because her Daddy was standing at the door."

"Yeah we men have to be careful of Daddy's." Booth said. He looked at Brennan and smiled.

Both Booths and Brennan's weekend centered on Parker. They took him to see a movie on Saturday but spent most of the time at the apartment. Poor Brennan had to put up with watching Sports all day on Sunday. On Monday Booth dropped Parker off at school while Brennan took her own car into work. As soon as he dropped Parker off Booth bee lined it to the Jeffersonian so he would be there when Angela and Hodgins came in with Zack.

Cam, of course, knew what was going on so she knew the reason why Hodgins and Angela would be late coming in. While Angela went to the Medico-Lab, Hodgins and Lee took Zack to personnel where Mr. Price had already informed the head of the department about Zack and the special circumstances under which he would be working at the Jeffersonian. Since Lee would have to be with Zack most of the time he had to be given ID cards also.

"Where is Hodgins Angela?" Brennan asked. She knew that they were living together and that they always came in together. And Hodgins was late.

"He had to go to personnel about something and he'll be here in 15 to 30 minutes." Angela said as she went by the platform and to her office. When she got into her office she called Cam's cell phone.

Cam was on the top walkway where they had a section where people could sit and have lunch or just get away from the work for a few minutes. She had been setting up a welcome home party for Zack.

"Dr. Saroyan speaking."

"Cam, this is Angela. Do you need for me to get anything?"

"No everything is set up. All we need is Zack and Hodgins."

"They should be here any minute now. Bye." Angela put her cell phone away and walked out to the platform. As she approached the platform she saw Cam coming downstairs and heading for the platform also. They saw that Brennan was already on the platform and examining an old skeleton. Both Cam and Angela came and stood at the center table so that Brennan's back would be turned away from the entrance.

"So how did your weekend with Parker go? I bet he was happy to see Booth after so long." Angela said.

"Yes he was. You should have seen him. When I sent you the picture of Booth after I shaved his head Booth told me to send one to Rebecca so Parker could see him also. When Parker saw his father with a bald head he told his mother that he wanted his head shaved also because he didn't want his father to feel bad. As soon as we got to his house he took his hat off to show Booth and they hugged each other. They both rubbed each other's head and hugged some more. Booth loves his son so much. He would be devastated if he should ever lose him."

Brennan turned when she heard the card reader buzz. She expected to see just Hodgins but found more. At the bottom of the steps to the platform she saw Dr. Zack Addy, Booth and another man that she didn't know.

"Zack, what are you doing here? Did you escape again?"

Zack used his new pass card and walked up to the platform. Booth and the stranger followed him up. Zack walked over and stood in front of Brennan.

"No, I'm here to report for my first day of work." For the first time everyone saw Dr. Temperance Brennan speechless.

When she was able to regain control of her voice again she asked, "But how? Did they let you go? Did you get a pardon? You obviously know what is going on Booth. Please explain this to me."

Booth came over and explained to her what Caroline had done for Zack and why the Judge had let Zack out of the hospital. "Bones, this is Lee Farmer, Zack's personal guard. Lee this is Dr. Temperance Brennan, my partner and Zack's supervisor." Brennan shook Lee's hand. Booth then introduced Lee to Cam.

Brennan hadn't made a move towards Zack and he thought that maybe she wasn't glad to see him back.

"Dr. Brennan, if you don't want me back here the Judge said that I can go to the minimum security prison and serve out my sentence."

Brennan looked at Zack. "Of course I want you back Zack. I've missed you so much." She went to Zack and hugged him. She kissed him on his cheek and stood back. She had started crying while she hugged him. She turned to Hodgins and hugged him. "Thank you Hodgins."

"We all wanted him back Dr. Brennan. I wanted my best friend back also." Hodgins said as he put his arm around Zack's shoulder. "He's like the younger brother I never had."

"Okay everyone that's enough crying lets go upstairs I have some coffee up there along with a welcome home cake." Brennan put her arm through Zack's and they went upstairs. They spent the next 30 minutes celebrating Zack's return to the Jeffersonian. At the end of the party Booth returned to FBI headquarters and his stacks of files while Brennan put Zack to work helping her to identify some World War II bones. At first Brennan was concerned that Zack couldn't do the work because of the injury to his hands when he had let chemicals explode in "his" hands in order to protect Hodgins. When it came time to work though Zack just pulled off his gloves, and although they were badly scarred he was able to use them to do delicate work.

At the end of the day Zack and Lee went home with Hodgins and Angela. All during the day Lee had spent his time in the monitoring room where he could keep an eye on Zack and yet not get in the way or look too conspicuous.

At the end of the week Booth went to the hospital and under the care of the FBI's doctor and his own doctor he was put through various tests to see if he was fit enough to return to field duty.

When he went through the last physical test he asked the doctors "Well what's the verdict Doc? Are you two satisfied with my physical condition?"

Dr. Williams, the FBI doctor spoke up first. "As far as we can see Booth, you're fit for duty. You've recovered from the cancer and you're in better shape than anyone has a right to be after what you went through. I'll send the paper work to personal today and you are, as of today, cleared for field duty."

"Thank you, thank you very much. It will be good to get out again." Booth turned then and went to take a shower before he went to the Jeffersonian to give Brennan the good news.

It was 4 o'clock when he was finally able to get to the Lab. When he got to the Medico-Lab he found everyone on the platform. He swiped his card through the card reader and ran up the stairs. They all turned and looked at him. Brennan straightened up from where she was bending over a skeleton that was on the center table. "Well?"

"Well what." Booth said with an innocent grin on his face.

Everyone else looked up at him also and waited for the answer they were all hoping for.

When he saw that he had all eyes on him he threw up his arms and shouted "I am officially back and cleared for field duty. I want to invite everyone to Wong Foo's for a celebration dinner." He put his arms around Brennan and bent her backwards with a kiss.

"Wooooooooooo!" Angela yelled when they saw Booth show affection for Brennan in front of them.

"I see I am going to have to keep two buckets of cold water in my office from now on. One for Angela and Hodgins and one for Dr. Brennan and Booth." Cam was shaking her head as she went into her office to get her coat and purse.

Hodgins pulled his cell phone out and called Lee to tell him to come to the Lab so he could go to Wong Foo's with them. As soon as he joined them they all went to their cars.

On Monday morning Booth came into the Medico-Lab and stood at the foot of the stairs to the platform and said "Come on Bones, we have a case. Hurry up and get your gear. Chop, Chop."

Brennan looked at the rest and gave a heavy sigh. "I guess it is business as usual now." Brennan said as she went running to her office to get her gear and coat. They all knew she didn't mean it though. Their biggest clue was that she had a big grin on her face as she went running into her office.

**The End**


End file.
